


Longing(For California)

by BornListening



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Monsters, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Eleven | Jane Hopper, BAMF Maxine "Max" Mayfield, BAMF Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove & Eleven | Jane Hopper Friendship, Billy Hargrove Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove Is Bad at Feelings, Billy Hargrove Needs a Hug, Dustin Henderson is a Good Friend, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Repressed, F/M, Good Parent Joyce Byers, Good Sibling Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Homophobic Language, Hurt Billy Hargrove, M/M, Minor Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Misunderstandings, Nancy Wheeler Is a Good Friend, Neil Hargrove's A+ Parenting, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Protective Billy Hargrove, Protective Eleven | Jane Hopper, Scheming, Slow Burn, Soccer Mom Steve Harrington, Soft Billy Hargrove, Soft Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Swearing, Will Byers & Billy Hargrove Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:02:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 20
Words: 58,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22609720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BornListening/pseuds/BornListening
Summary: In which there's; a gaming notebook, a bunch of scheming kids, emotionally repressed teenage boys, plenty of misunderstandings, no shortage of angst, and an eventual happy ending.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper
Comments: 27
Kudos: 211





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is very much a "Billy Hargrove deserved redemption" fic, if you don't like it, don't read it.

Max follows the group out of the arcade glancing around as she does, she isn't surprised when she spots the Camaro almost immediately.

It's only five, and their curfew isn't till eight, but she knows Billy doesn't have a lot of other places to go, and, anywhere is better than home with Neil.

She rolls her eyes as Billy flashes a smirk at a girl walking by, making her and her friends giggle.

They move closer to talk to him, and Billy flirts back easy enough, but Max can tell, especially now that she's started paying attention, his heart isn't in it.

She guesses his heart had never really been in it, but he'd been acting strange lately, more so than usual.

Max is pulled out of her thoughts by Dustin snapping his fingers in front of her face.

She glares, snatching the D&D notebook from him and smacking him over the head with it. She's getting ready to go in for another hit when the notebook is pulled from her hand.

“Knock it off twerp,” Billy says, hitting her with it. “Lets go, I'm tired of waiting around here,” he adds, turning back towards the Camaro.

“That's Dustin's notebook,” Max calls after him.

“It's mine now,” Billy calls back, raising the notebook above his head briefly before dropping down into his Camaro, revving the engine when Max doesn't move from her spot.

She groans and looks back at the group. “Sorry guys. I'll get it back,” she says, taking off towards the Camaro when Billy revvs the engine again.

Steve pulls into the parking lot right as the Camaro is leaving, and he can't help but count himself lucky.

Sure, Billy hasn't so much as spoken to him since that night at the Byers, but still. Something about him gets under Steve's skin.

He's a bit surprised when all the kids immediately bombard him as soon as he parks, all talking at once.

He holds his hands out in front of himself.

“Whoa, guys, one at a time,” he says.

They bicker amongst themselves for a moment before Dustin speaks up.

“Billy just stole my notebook,” he says, loudly.

Steve winces slightly at the volume.

It doesn't exactly surprise him. Billy being an ass isn't news, but Steve doesn't know what **he's** supposed to do about it.

He shrugs when he finds all the kids looking at him expectantly.

“I'm sorry,” he offers.

The kids groan in unison before turning to continue their conversation without him.

Steve is surprised again when Dustin gets in the car a few minutes later and they leave without it being brought up again.

He is less surprised the next day when he shows up to Dustin's house, for what he thought was an emergency, only to be cornered by all the kids again.

“You have to help us get it back,” Dustin starts, followed by Will's plea of; “It has all our campaigns in it, we worked really hard on it”.

“It's my fault he took it. He knows I'm not supposed to be hanging out with you guys,” Max adds.

Steve sighs in defeat.

“Fine, I'll help,” he says, looking at the kids expectantly. “I'm guessing you have a plan”.

And that's how Steve finds himself pulling up outside Billy Hargroves house the next night.

“Fucking kids, unbelieveable. It's not my fault Hargrove stole their notebook, and yet they come to me, pouting, like I can do something about it,” Steve mutters to himself, parking his car along the curb and looking up at the house. “And here I am, like an asshole,” he adds, dragging a hand through his hair.

He groans as he gets out of the car, looking down at the paper in his hand; “second floor, third window” . “I can't believe I'm doing this,” Steve says, making his way around the side of the house.

He's not really worried about being caught, Max told him the house would be empty, but he's still annoyed. This **really** isn't his job, he should have just told them no.

Steve makes it onto the roof easy enough and hangs his head when he realizes, from here, it's pretty much guess work. Because of course Max hadn't been specific, and _“third window”_ isn't exactly helpful when he's staring down so many windows. He considers his options briefly, looking back down at his car wistfully, before looking back to the windows, deciding fuck it, and picking one.

He gets his hands on the windowsill, ready to open it, and freezes completely when he notices movement. Billy is standing there, a few feet away, on the other side of the window. His eyes are closed, his head tilted back, a lit cigarette dangling between the fingers of his left hand.

Steve drops immediately, staying low, his face at the edge of the windowsill. He can't tear his eyes away from Billy's bare skin. He's seen the guy shirtless before, it's nothing new, but something about this feels different.

It could be because he's peeping at the guy through his window, instead of just catching glimpses in the locker room, but, whatever.

Steve jumps when Billy opens his eyes, but Billy doesn't seem to notice him, simply grabbing something off the top of his dresser and pouring some of it into the palm of his free hand.

Steve's eyes track the cigarette to Billy's lips, following the arch of his neck before flicking down to the movement of his other hand as he pushes it under the waistband of his jeans.

It doesn't take a genius to know what Billy is doing, and Steve feels his face go hot as Billy arches his neck further, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and biting down on his lip like he's trying to be quiet.

Steve needs to go. He needs to find another window, get what he came for, and go.

Through the window in front of him Billy groans, hissing out a broken _“fuck”_ as his hand speeds up.

Steve drops his forehead to the edge of the windowsill and squeezes his eyes shut. He should go, he should really just go home, he honestly can't even remember what he was here for in the first place.

_“No, it was important,”_ that stupid voice in his head tells him, the same voice that made him stay friends with Nancy after their break-up; he hates that voice. He moves back and settles his head into his hands, sure enough that he won't be seen. He was here for a reason dammit, what was it.

Billy lets out another groan, that's actually closer to a whimper, and, yeah, that is **not** fucking helping _at all_

Steve moves to get off the roof, fuck whatever he'd been here for, but he didn't notice the mirror. How the fuck had he missed a mirror?

Part of his anatomy is _definitely_ interested to find out that Billy jerks off half clothed in front of a fucking mirror, but the rest of him is frozen to the spot. Because Billy's eyes are open again, just barely but still, and Steve could **swear** he was looking right at him.

Steve blinks a couple times in rapid succession, swallowing hard, and Billy fucking smirks and picks up where he'd left off when he'd caught sight of Steve.

This time, Steve's entire body goes hot. This can not be happening. Billy _fucking_ Hargrove **is not** currently making eyes at Steve through his mirror as he jerks off. A quick glance down Billy's body however tells Steve that, yes, this is happening.

He swallows again, his throat suddenly dry, and darts his tongue out to wet his lips, trying to ignore the obvious tent in his pants. Billy's breath hitches visibly, but it doesn't look like it's slowing him down any, in fact, Steve is pretty sure Billy picks up the pace even more.

Steve breaks their eye contact, blushing so much he's pretty sure he's glowing. He has to go, this is insane, Billy may actually kill him for this. Despite whatever is currently going on in his head, Billy has beat the shit out of people for less; climbing onto his roof and watching him jerk off will definitely get Steve killed.

Billy gives another broken whimper and Steve's eyes snap back over to him, catching on the frantic movement of his hand before trailing up his body to meet his eyes.

There's a blush working it's way across Billy's cheekbones and down his exposed chest, sweat prickling at his temples, but other than that he looks completely in control. Like he's putting on a show.

Steve meets his eyes again in the mirror and Billy bites down on his bottom lip, smirking as he does. And Steve can't drop his eyes. He's frozen in place, his heart thundering in his ribcage, even his fucking palms are sweating. He darts his tongue out to wet his lips again and Billy's breath hitches, his mouth dropping open as his hips stutter, his hand slowing as his orgasm rolls out of him.

Steve's heart doesn’t calm, he feels like it's going to beat out of his chest, and then Billy opens his eyes again, breathing heavy, and fucking winks at Steve.

That snaps Steve out of whatever stupor he'd been in and he scrambles down off the roof, nearly braining himself in the process, and bolts to his car. He fumbles with his keys when he gets there, dropping them twice before he manages to unlock the doors, collapsing into the seat as soon as he can.

“That didn't just happen. There's _no way_ that just fucking happened,” he mutters to himself; and yet, the wild beating of his heart is telling him it did.

He drops his head into his hands and takes a deep breath, trying to process what just happened; then he makes the mistake of closing his eyes, and he sees it all over again.

_Billy's bare chest, the arch of his neck, the slow movement of his hand, the look in his eyes_

Steve shakes his head to fight off the images and starts his car, valiantly ignoring the ache between his legs as he drives off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because Valentines day, so why not upload today...

Steve wakes up late the next day, thankful he isn't picking Dustin up, and rushes out of the house.

He shows up a half hour late, stops by the office for a late slip, and collapses into his desk, ignoring Nancy's eyes on him.

He can't stop thinking about what happened, he was up half the night thinking about it. It doesn't make sense. None of it does. Not with what he's heard about Billy. It makes him nervous, more so than he was before.

He jumps when the bell rings, excusing the class, and dodges Nancy's questioning gaze as he heads for his locker.

He keeps looking over his shoulder. Looking for Billy. Because he's so sure that whatever happened last night was a fluke, that Billy will be waiting around a corner to beat the shit out of him. He closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths to calm the racing of his heart. He shouldn't have come in today. He should have just rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

The mirror hanging on his locker door catches the light as he pulls the door open and all it takes is a glance and he's seeing it all again.

_Billy, shirtless in his room, cigarette between his lips. The line of his neck as he tilts his head back. His smirk when he caught Steve looking. The slow drag of his hand down his torso-._

Steve shakes his head to clear it. He **does not** need to be thinking about this.

He grabs the things he needs from his locker and closes it, jumping when he finds Nancy next to him, close enough that he should have fucking noticed. Christ, he's dead. He'll never even see Billy coming.

When he looks back up Nancy is making a face, and he realizes she's been talking to him this whole time.

“Huh?” he asks.

She rolls her eyes. “I said, are you okay? You seem kinda, jumpy,” she says.

He nods. “No, no, yeah. I'm fine, just, overslept. Not quite awake yet,” he tells her, hoping she believes his blatant lie.

She looks skeptical, her eyebrows drawing together, but she doesn't question it. “Alright, if you're sure,” she says.

He offers a fake smile and nods, following her to their next class.

He doesn't see Billy once. By the time lunch rolls around he's convinced himself that Billy has somehow figured out where he lives and will be waiting there to beat the shit out of him when he gets home.

He sits with Nancy and Jonathan, and tries not to look as freaked out as he feels. Judging by the looks they give him, he isn't entirely convincing.

Nancy grabs him after lunch, pulling him out the doors towards the football field. “What's going on with you today?” she asks.

He pulls out a cigarette to have something to do with his hands. “Nothing Nance, I'm fine,” he lies, closing his eyes as he takes in a lungful of smoke. She looks less than impressed when he opens his eyes again. He offers her the cigarette and she takes it, dropping it to the ground and stomping it out. So much for something to do with his hands.

“Bullshit you're fine Steve,” she says.

He flinches at the word. Hates that he does it, hates the way her face goes all soft and apologetic. “I'm really fine Nance. Now lets go, we're gonna be late for class,” he says. She goes without arguing and it makes him feel even shittier than he did before.

He hates that she can still get a reaction out of him, because, he’s over the break-up, he really is. It's just, **that word** , _bullshit_. It still gets to him, in a way it hadn’t before their break-up.

Despite what he’d told Nancy he shows up to his next class early, avoiding the crowds, and he groans when he drops into his seat, laying his head on his desk. This isn’t any better than freaking out over Billy.

Honestly, he’d rather be freaking out about Billy than thinking about his and Nancy's break-up.

He jumps when someone in front of him drops their books on their desk, and when he sits up he finds Billy, sitting across the room, looking at him.

Billy winks when he catches him looking and Steve feels himself go red as he turns his attention towards the front of the classroom.

He takes it back. Thinking about the break-up was better than this.

He's almost calmed down by the end of the day, having successfully dodged both of Nancy's attempts to ask him what's wrong, and he gives a sigh of relief after closing his locker.

Maybe he was freaking out for nothing, maybe it had all been an elaborate dream.

He nearly jumps out of his skin when the kids round the corner by his locker, all looking at him expectantly. He puts a hand on his chest and tries to breathe normally.

For a minute nobody says anything, then Mike sighs, rolling his eyes.

“Well, did you get it?” he asks, completely ignoring the fact that Steve is still struggling to catch his breath.

“Not yet, no,” Steve says, followed by a chorus of disappointed huffs.

“I told you it was no use. He’s never gonna give it back, he’s an asshole,” Max pipes in, crossing her arms over her chest.

Mike scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Lotta help you were,” he mutters under his breath, glaring at Steve.

And, yeah, Steve knows the kid doesn’t like him, you can only date a guys sister for so long; but does he have to make it so damn obvious.

Part of him wonders if Mike knows that Nancy ended the relationship. Another part of him knows it doesn't matter.

She's with Jonathan now, the kids like Jonathan, and it's not like Steve can blame them, he doesn't blame Nancy either.

Jonathan is a nice guy. He's always been a nice guy. Unlike Steve.

But, things are different now. Steve actually cares about the brats, which just makes this whole situation worse.

It's not like he can explain to the kids **why** he doesn't have the notebook. No, he would have to be completely stupid to even consider that.

For now he's just gonna, avoid thinking about it, and avoid Billy Hargrove at all costs.

Steve is snapped back to the present by Dustin.

Dustin, the one in the group who undoubtedly likes Steve the most, shoves at Mike’s shoulder. “Oh c’mon Mike, he tried. That’s more than Nancy was willing to do,” he says, Mike sneers.

“Can’t you just tell your parents to make him give it back?” Will asks.

The color drains from Max’s face. “No,” she says, too fast. “I-I mean, they don’t even want me hanging out with you guys, they’d probably just throw it away, if my asshead step brother hasn’t already,” she adds.

Steve makes a face at the shift in attitude, but drops it. “Hey, maybe don’t swear, alright. And I said _not yet_ , just, give me a few days,” he says.

To his surprise Max actually mumbles an apology, which is just, weird. It’s not his job to parent these kids, he’s a high school senior for god’s sake, their parents should be scolding them for even talking to him.

Steve drops his head into his hands and thinks, not for the first time, that his life had gone off the rails somewhere.

“Yo Harrington!”

Steve’s entire body freezes up when he hears Billy yell from behind him and Steve turns on his heel to face him.

Billy is walking towards them, his shoulders squared, and Steve is pretty sure this is how he is going to die. He thinks about running, but he's pretty sure his legs have turned to jelly, so he just stands there and tries not to look like a deer in the headlights.

Billy strides right up to him, a sly smirk on his face, and slams a notebook into his chest hard enough to knock the wind out of him. He pulls his hand back, leaving Steve to grasp at the notebook, and takes a second to light a cigarette, his eyes locked on Steve's, before shouldering past him and down the hall.

Steve closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, passing the notebook off to the nearest kid and waving them away.

Once he's safely alone he collapses back against his locker, letting out the breath he'd been holding. "Oh my god," he forces out, his entire body shaking.

He was so sure he was going to get punched, and even though Billy's look had **felt** like a sucker punch to the gut, it hadn't been, which doesn’t make _any sense_.

He doesn't know what kind of game Billy is playing, but he knows for sure he doesn't want to be a part of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters...for Valentines day :)) Billy's POV this time :))))

Billy pulls his locker open, snuffing the last of his cigarette out against the door. He doesn't know what's going on in his head either, but Christ, Harrington is jumpy.

Yeah, Billy has a bit of a reputation, but so what? He's only actually hit the guy a few times. Hell, he hasn't even _threatened_ Harrington since that night at the Byers; sure, there had been a few words exchanged at a party, but nothing to warrant this kind of behavior from the guy.

It has something to do with that Wheeler bitch, Billy would bet money on it. Whatever rom-com bullshit that happened between them had changed Harrington for the worse.

Billy slams his locker and growls in frustration. The fuck does he care about Steve Harrington for anyway. The guy wasn't any fun anymore, not since Nancy had dumped him. He'd gone from “King Steve” to “Hawkins best babysitter” practically overnight.

Billy lights a cigarette as he pushes his way towards the doors.

It has to be Max's fault. Her and her band of nerds never shut up about the guy, but they'd been especially insufferable lately, one of them in particular. A loud boy with curly hair, always wearing a fucking hat, Max had told Billy his name once, but Billy had just scoffed and told her not to be fucking late. He couldn't be bothered to remember, but that one kid in particular was constantly going on about Harrington: _“He hasn't been sleeping,”; “His parents are out of town,”; “I think it's the nightmares again,”; “I don't think he's eating,”._

Billy shakes his head to clear it, leaning back against the Camaro as soon as he's close enough and cursing as he lights another cigarette.

He doesn't give a fuck about Steve Harrington, but he has, maybe, _noticed_ a few things. Like the bags under his eyes, the way he flinches away from everyone, how he tries to be the last one in and out of the locker room, the bruises.

“Hey asshead!” Max yells, interrupting his thoughts.

He looks at her, glaring.

“I have to stay after, I have AV club,” she tells him.

He drops his cigarette, crushes it under his boot, and shows teeth.

“Johnathan is gonna give me a ride home,” she says, before he can say anything.

He shrugs, runs his tongue over his teeth, and puts another cigarette between his lips, determined to actually smoke this one instead of just letting it burn down to the filter after one inhale.

Max shifts in front of him and he glances up from the flame of his lighter. “The fuck you standin' there for? Don't you got somewhere to be?” he asks.

She rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest like she's done with his shit. “Look, I don't know what happened the other day, but leave Steve alone. He has enough problems without you being one of them,” she tells him, an edge to her voice saying _“I am not to be fucked with”._

She walks off before Billy has a chance to laugh at her.

Who the fuck does she think she is telling him to leave Harrington alone anyway? His fucking keeper.

He grinds his teeth, flicks his lighter a few times just for something to do with his hands, and takes a deep lungful of smoke as soon as he can relax his jaw enough to do so.

He hates to admit it, but, Max may actually have a point.

The Wheeler shit had been over with for a while, Harrington hardly moped about it anymore. But what happened between _them_. What Billy had let happen. That was fresh. _Last night_ fresh.

He knew when he took that notebook that Max would get Steve involved one way or another. But, part of him had wanted that.

He couldn't tell you why, but something about Harrington got under his skin, since the first time Billy had laid eyes on him.

Did he take it too far last night? Definitely. But Steve wasn't exactly innocent either. He stayed.

He watched.

The smirk Billy had given Steve to let him know he'd been spotted felt like the most natural thing in the world. Unlike everything else he did, that smirk wasn't fake.

No, it was real, and it was dangerous.

Because real meant stupid, and Billy couldn't afford to be stupid. Not after what happened last time.

Billy sneers.

One stupid mistake and he'd been moved halfway across the US.

But hey, it could have been worse. It almost cost him his life.

“Jesus, Dustin. I'm fine, okay. I'm just busy. I'm allowed to be fucking busy”.

Billy's head does not snap up at the sound of Steve's voice, and he'd beat the shit out of anyone that said otherwise. It's not hard to find him, the parking lot is mostly cleared out by now, but Billy feels like he finds him too quick anyway. Like a magnetic pull or some shit.

Steve and the kid finish their argument quiet enough that Billy can't hear them, but the kid doesn't look any less worried when he turns and walks away, and Billy can't help but notice the way Steve deflates as soon as the kids eyes are off of him.

Billy watches as Steve closes his eyes, muttering something to himself, his fists clenched so tight that Billy can see his keys digging into the palm of his hand.

Then, like Steve can feel Billy's eyes on him, his eyes snap open to meet Billy's gaze. Billy gives a smirk and a wink, and Steve hurries off to his car.

Billy watches him drive off and mutters another curse. So much for that fucking cigarette.

The thing about Steve Harrington is, even if Billy doesn't give a fuck about him, he couldn't buy some smokes without running into him.

Most people would blame it on Hawkins being a shithole town, not many places to buy smokes, but Billy had bought smokes here too many times without seeing him to believe that.

There was something about Steve Harrington, even before that night on the roof, something had changed.

Billy's lost in thought, but he doesn't miss the guys that bump into Harrington. Nothing malicious, barely even a bump, but Steve starts shaking so hard Billy can see it as Steve deposits his items on the nearest shelf and practically bolts out the door.

Billy takes his time walking to the shelf, picking through the items once he gets there; a lighter, a pack of smokes, a coke, some bubblegum, and a box of hostess cupcakes. Billy scoffs and scoops the shit off the shelf, placing it on the counter with his own pack of smokes. He pays, fishes his cigarettes out of the bag, and exits into the parking lot.

Steve is sitting in his car not far from the entrance, still shaking, with his forehead pressed to the steering wheel and his eyes closed.

Billy walks up slow and raps his knuckles once against the drivers side window.

Steve nearly jumps out of his skin. Billy would laugh if he couldn't still see the tremors wracking Steve's body.

He holds the bag up silently, like a peace offering, and Steve slowly rolls the window down to accept it.

Steve meets his eyes, neither of them say anything, Billy lights a cigarette and stands there until the shaking subsides. He stays there until he's smoked through his cigarette then he takes two steps back, watches as Steve tilts his head back against the head rest, and abruptly turns and walks back to his car.

He slams his door a bit harder than necessary.

_He doesn't give a fuck about Steve Harrington._

He lights another cigarette and cranks the music till he can feel it.

_**He doesn't give a fuck about Steve Harrington.**_

Billy closes his eyes and sees the bruises on Steve's neck crystal clear, like someone had their hands on him. He growls, forces his eyes open, ignores the blood boiling under his skin, and tears out of the parking lot.

**He doesn't give a fuck about Steve Harrington.**

He repeats this in his head, his own personal mantra, as he speeds down backroads.

He doesn't have a destination in mind, just, anywhere but home. He's so angry he's shaking with it, and having to deal with Neil's shit would only make it worse.

The more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets.

He's angry at whoever the fuck had their hands on Steve. But, more than that, he's angry at himself.

Their fight at the Byers may have seemed necessary in the moment, but, knowing what he knows now, he wouldn't have laid a goddamn hand on Steve that night.

He's dragged out of his thoughts by a flat tire of all things, and he swears as he pulls off the side of the road.

He gets out to survey the damage and swears again. All the way on the outskirts of Hawkins and it's looking like his only options are to hoof it home or drive back on a flat and fuck up his rim.

Billy kicks at the tire and pulls a cigarette out of the pack in his pocket, dropping back into his seat as he lights it and reaches across the seats to pull the map out of the glove compartment.

He isn't 100% sure where he is, but by his best guess, it looks like there's an auto shop about a mile up the road.

He drops the map into the seat next to him and sighs. Another mile can't hurt.

Billy leaves the auto shop that night with a job, finds Neil passed out drunk when he gets home, and drops into bed thinking, just maybe, his luck is changing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late...Updates will be every Sunday from now on, so, look for another chapter Sunday. Thanks for reading!

Steve is half asleep at his locker that morning, idly chewing the gum in his mouth as he grabs his things on autopilot. He notices when someone leans on the locker next to him, but he doesn't really give it much thought.

“Steve,” the guy greets. Steve turns his head to reply, eyes widening when he finds Billy next to him.

He'd like to say he handles it well from there, but; he promptly inhales, and chokes on, his gum.

Billy pushes off the locker laughing, clapping Steve on the shoulder as he walks off down the hall.

“High school boys are weird,” Max comments.

“Tell me about it,” Nancy replies, looking from Max to Steve. “You alright?” Nancy asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

No, he's not. For one, **Billy Hargrove** , just greeted him _by his name_ , and then clapped him on the shoulder, like that's something they do; and two, he has no idea when Max and Nancy showed up. He nods anyway, because saying _any of that_ out loud would be a disaster, and tries to control his coughing.

“I just, inhaled my gum. It's cool, I'll be fine,” he manages. The girls both roll their eyes at him, and Nancy gives him a _look_ before she walks away. A look that means _“we'll be talking about that later"_ , which means that Steve has until lunch to figure out how to explain whatever is going on between him and Billy.

Steve doesn’t realize that Max is still standing next to him until she clears her throat.

“What’s up Mad Max?” he asks.

She smiles at the nickname. “I just wanted to make sure that Billy isn’t bothering you,” she says.

Steve stops breathing, his mouth audibly clicking shut. Because, is Billy bothering him? _Kind of_. Does he mind? Not so much. Is he ready and willing to explain _any of that_ to Max? **Abso-fucking-lutely** not.

“No, he’s not bothering me. I mean, no more than usual. Why?” he replies.

She shrugs, twisting and untwisting the strings from her backpack straps in front of her. “I don’t know. Just, _Dustin_ says you’ve been weird, and he wanted me to make sure Billy wasn’t the reason,” she tells him.

Steve groans. Of course it's Dustin's fault, it's always Dustin. When he opens his eyes again Max is giving him a look, a _“really dude?”_ look, and Steve musters up a small smile.

“I'm no weirder than usual Max, Dustin is just freaking out over nothing, alright?” he tells her.

She nods, looking about as happy as he feels for this conversation to end. “Alright. I'll tell him you're fine. But if he bugs me about it again I'm punching both of you,” she informs him, matter-of-fact.

He snorts a laugh. “Deal. Now, go to class okay, I don’t want you to be late,” he says.

She rolls her eyes at him. “Yes _mom_ ,” she says, like she’s annoyed, but Steve catches the smile on her face as she turns away.

It’s not the first time one of the kids have jokingly referred to him as “mom”, and while it had annoyed him at first, it didn’t really bother him anymore. He cares about the little shits, if they want to pretend to be annoyed by that and nag him about being a “mom”, well, he’s been called worse.

He drops into his seat and Nancy immediately jabs the eraser of her pencil into his ribs to get his attention.

“What did Max want?” she asks when he turns around, ignoring his displeasure at being jabbed.

Steve rolls his eyes. “Dustin was annoying her,” he offers, in lieu of explanation. She shrugs and goes back to her conversation with Johnathan.

The rest of the day is uneventful, Nancy doesn’t even bring up his choking incident at lunch like he thought she would, and he’s so preoccupied thinking about Billy Hargrove, and whatever the fuck had happened last night, that he forgets about gym until it's too late to skip out.

He growls as he changes into his gym clothes, muttering under his breath. He'd really rather be _anywhere_ else, but he suffers through class, bolting for the locker room as soon as the coach will let him get away with it.

He doesn’t shower right away, he waits for the showers to empty, waits for the guys in the locker room to trickle out, until it's just him and a few other guys. Even then, he showers quickly, really just rinsing before he moves back to his locker to get dressed.

He takes his time now, because the locker room had emptied out while he was in the shower, and he’s not really in a hurry to get to his next class.

Steve thought he was alone, so it's understandable that he almost jumps out of his skin when he turns around and finds Billy, only half dressed, leaning against the lockers behind him.

Steve swallows hard at the look in his eyes before dropping his eyes completely in order to focus on the task at hand.

He's surprised when he feels Billy crowd up behind him, definitely in his personal space, but he ignores it as best he can.

"I think you owe me one pretty boy," Billy says, low, and so close to Steve's ear that he can feel Billy's breath ghost across his skin.

"Wh-what?" Steve stutters out, his fingers tightening around the t-shirt in his hands.

Billy's arms come around him, boxing him in against his locker, effectively trapping him in place. "I saw you watching me, how about you return the favor," he says.

Steve stops breathing. This isn't happening. This **is not** happening.

Billy shuffles half a step closer, bringing his bare chest in contact with Steve's back, and Steve's face goes hot. He opens his mouth to tell Billy off, probably, and is interrupted by the door to the locker room creaking open.

Billy is gone before whoever it is even makes it all the way into the room, leaving Steve's head spinning.

He gets dressed as fast as he can, almost tripping getting into his pants, and darts out of the locker room before the other guy can leave.

The gym is empty, and Steve makes it to the edge of the bleachers before he _completely_ loses his shit.

_“What the hell was that!”_ he thinks, dragging a hand through his hair, his eyes wide. That thought is followed by; _“that didn’t just happen,”_ and; _“honestly, what the fuck”_ and; _“fucking Billy Hargrove,”_.

Steve honestly isn’t sure who he’s angrier at, Billy for cornering him like that, or who ever it was that interrupted them.

He shakes his head to clear it and definitely _does not_ think about how it felt having Billy pressed against him like that. The bell breaks through his _**not thinking about it**_ a minute or so later, and he takes off towards his next class. Still _definitely_ **not thinking about it**.

Steve is **still** refusing to think about it as he walks towards his car at the end of the day, but that doesn’t stop him from practically losing his mind when he sees Max walking over to his car with Dustin in tow.

“What’s up Mad Max?” he asks, an eyebrow raised.

She doesn’t even crack a smile, just takes another few steps forward and punches him in the shoulder, turning and doing the same to Dustin before glaring at them both.

“If I hear **one more** word about how Steve is acting “weird” I’ll hurt you a lot more than that punch to the shoulder,” she warns, before turning and walking off.

When Steve looks down at him Dustin looks a little awestruck, and Steve can’t help his snort of laughter.

“Women,” Dustin says, disbelieving.

Steve shakes his head, dropping his abandoned cigarette to the pavement. “Man, you have _no idea_ ,” he tells him, still laughing at Dustin's look as they get in the car.

He pulls out of his parking spot, waves to Max as they pass her, and continues laughing as he exits the parking lot and heads towards Dustin’s house.

Billy sees Steve wave at Max as he's leaving and is struck by the visible bags under Steve's eyes.

He knows they weren't that bad last night, and he can't help but wonder what keeps Steve up at night.

Billy is no stranger to nightmares and waking up tired, but this morning had been a rare exception.

He'd woken up in a good mood, which only got better when Max had been the only one home.

And, maybe it was the lucky feeling from the night before, or maybe it had just been the good mood, but Billy had found himself making a beeline for Steve's locker that morning.

Billy wanted to tell him. He wanted to let Steve know that he really **had** seen him the other night.

His confidence however, is short lived. He sees Max and Nancy heading their way and backs out, laughing when Steve starts choking after Billy says his name.

He decides to play it off like a taunt, clapping Steve on the shoulder as he walks off.

By the time gym rolls around Billy has decided to just drop it all together. That is, until he finds himself alone in the locker room with Steve.

He wasn't thinking. That's the only explanation he can come up with for why he'd cornered Steve and propositioned him like that.

Steve looked good, there was no denying that. Standing there half naked, wet hair dripping down his back.

Billy's thoughts are cut off abruptly by Max pulling at his hair.

“What the fuck Maxine,” Billy snaps.

Max rolls her eyes at him. “You've been staring into space for like twenty minutes, I'm just making sure you're still alive,” she says.

Billy huffs, ignoring the glances he can see her casting his way, and trying desperately to smother the little voice in his head that is telling him to trust her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *NON-CON WARNING*
> 
> Billy's POV. This is a longer one. Happy Sunday!! Enjoy!

The party is packed with the usual subjects when Billy finally gets there; drunk girls throwing themselves at him, guys desperate to hang out with him, impress him, be him. He'd honestly gotten tired of it, at least in California he could score some decent drugs.

He hadn't even been planning on coming to this party, not until he'd overheard Tommy and Steve talking about it.

And, it’s not like Billy’s stalking the guy, okay. He just figured, maybe bumping into Harrington a few more times couldn't hurt.

There was just something about Steve lately that drew Billy to him, fuck if he knew what it was, but it was slowly driving him out of his mind. Fuck him if he was going to become one of those assholes hooked on Harrington's every word.

Billy growls, shaking his head and rolling his shoulders as he scans the room. Looking for a drink, or a chick, fucking anything that’ll get his mind off Harrington honestly.

He clenches his fists when someone bumps into him, turning around ready for a fight, disappointed when it’s just Tommy. He glares, watching the fear shift over Tommy’s face before he seems to steel himself.

“Look, I’m not really expecting you to care, but I can’t find Nancy so,” he stops, casting a desperate glance back at the stairs.

Billy raises an eyebrow, curious, and hoping that’s enough to tell Tommy to fucking get on with it.

“There were some guys talking to Steve earlier, I don’t know who they were but they were drunk, and Steve is beyond drunk, and some of the stuff they were saying…” Tommy let’s his sentence trail off, looking a little nauseous.

Billy shoves at his shoulder to get his attention. “Fuckin' spit it out Tommy,” he barks.

Tommy looks at him, wide eyed and panicked. “Fuck, man, they took him upstairs. Two of them were practically carrying him,” he says.

Billy’s whole body goes tense, his jaw clenching, and Tommy flinches back as Billy turns to head for the stairs, the crowd parting in front of him.

“Wait, wait,” Tommy calls after him, colliding with Billy's back again when he manages to push through the people dancing. “Aren't you gonna get somebody? There were four of them Billy,” he says.

Billy growls, glaring again. “I don’t fucking have time for this Tommy,” he spits, turning back towards the stairs.

He doesn’t hear Tommy following him this time, and he makes it to the stairs without being stopped, taking them two at a time.

He runs into a few people on the way up the stairs, the ones too busy making out to notice him; one guy turns around like he’s gonna do something about it, but one look at Billy changes his mind.

He doesn’t bother knocking once he gets up there, just opens doors until he finds one that’s locked.

He knocks, waits, and calls out when he hears movement on the other side of the door.

“Hey, somebody told me you had something good up here,” he says, shifting impatiently in front of the door, his hands itching to hit something.

More movement on the other side of the door, followed by whispering.

“Holy shit. Is that Hargrove?” one guy asks.

“Fuck. We can’t let him in,” another one says.

Billy rolls his eyes. “You assholes know I can hear you, right?” he says.

There's no response, but there is more shuffling behind the door.

“What do we do?” one guy asks, quieter this time, but still audible.

“Let him in,” a new voice replies.

“What if he beats the shit out of us? He’s friends with Harrington now,” a fourth voice says.

“Please, nobody is friends with Harrington. Just let him in, he's cool,” the supposed ringleader says.

After a few seconds there’s some more shuffling, and then the door unlocks and a guy on the other side ushers him in.

The room is huge, and dimly lit by some bedside lamps, a big bed, backed by even bigger windows. Billy actually scoffs at the size. Fuckin' rich people, honestly.

“Welcome to the party,” the ringleader greets, snapping Billy back into the moment.

Billy looks over at him, notices his hands on Steve, and sees red.

“What do you say California? How would you like to try out Hawkins resident pretty boy?”.

Things go kind of blurry after that. The ringleader goes down easy, and Billy knocks the rest of the guys down before going back to him.

His vision is still red, and every time he blinks he sees this guy with his hands on Steve like they fucking belong there.

Billy hears the bedroom door open twice, assumes it’s the other guys running, and keeps on hitting.

The guy is trying to get Billy off of him to no avail, not bothering to block any of the punches Billy is throwing at him, and on the next hit Billy hears the snap as the guys nose breaks.

He's gone limp, probably unconscious, by the time Tommy comes in, and Tommy tries in vain to get Billy off the guy, yelling when shoving at him doesn’t work.

“Billy, stop!” Tommy yells, grabbing Billy’s shoulder.

Billy turns and shoves him back, glaring as he does. “Fuck off Tommy,” he growls; and he doesn’t know what he looks like, but it must be bad, because Tommy looks like he’s going to shit his pants.

He ignores Tommy’s look and turns back to the unconscious guy pinned beneath him. His face is a swollen mess of blood, Billy’s knuckles are wet with it, his own and theirs, but he’s still seeing red.

He grinds his teeth, tries to take deep breaths and clam down.

“Billy, come on. Let’s just get Steve and go, before somebody calls the cops,” Tommy says.

“If you’re so worried about cops Tommy, then fucking leave,” Billy spits, not bothering to open his eyes.

“Right, and find out what went down when Steve has to bail you out of jail,” he scoffs.

Billy turns to glare at him, debating on whether or not he should fucking punch the guy, and Steve groans from the bed.

“Steve?” Billy questions, looking over at him.

On the bed Steve shifts, the blankets rustling as he moves, and he lets out another groan. “Billy?” he calls, confusion evident in his voice.

Billy stands and crosses the room to kneel on the mattress next to Steve. Behind him Tommy huffs and leaves the room.

Billy cups Steve’s face in his hand, knowing he’s alone, and runs his other hand over Steve’s forehead in an attempt at comfort.

Steve’s face scrunches and he presses into Billy's hand, blinking his eyes open briefly before closing them again.

“Steve? Stevie? Hey, are you okay?” Billy asks, his voice low.

Steve blinks his eyes open again, a small smile appearing on his face. “Stevie,” he huffs, before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

Billy actually laughs, the adrenaline left in his system making him slightly giddy. “Fuck Harrington, you’re trouble,” he mutters, pulling his hand away from Steve’s face and standing from the bed.

“Alright, come on, let’s get you out of here,” Billy says after a minute, grabbing one of Steve’s hands and pulling him up into a sitting position.

Steve groans, not bothering to open his eyes, and sways in place.

Billy sighs. “Fuck. Alright Harrington, if you hurl on me I’ll kick your ass,” he says, before leaning down slightly and leveraging Steve over his shoulder.

He gets a few strange looks walking out of the party with Steve, half passed out, thrown over his shoulder, but nobody asks any questions and he makes it to the Camaro without being stopped.

Fucking rich people.

Billy stops and sets Steve down on his feet leaning him against the passenger side of the Camaro as he digs his keys out of his pocket. “Fuck pretty boy, you’re heavier than you look,” he mutters, mostly to himself, as he unlocks the door and settles Steve in his seat.

Billy stops before closing the door, crouching slightly and smacking at Steve’s cheek until he opens his eyes.

“If you puke in my car, I will throw your ass out,” he warns, waiting for Steve’s nod before he shuts the door.

They drive in silence for a while, just until Billy hits the ritzy neighborhood, then he reaches over to roll Steve’s window down the rest of the way, hoping the cool air will wake him up.

“Directions pretty boy, I don’t know where I’m going,” he says.

Steve opens his eyes for a minute before closing them again and mumbling out the directions to his house.

When Billy pulls into the driveway he'd like to say he’s surprised, but, well, the house is kind of exactly what he was expecting.

He looks over to ask Steve what’s taking so long, but one look at him tells Billy that he won’t be going anywhere on his own. “Fuck,” Billy curses, rolling up both the windows and pulling the keys out of the ignition.

He gets out and walks around the car, getting the key from Steve before heaving him over his shoulder again and starting towards the front door.

They make it inside okay, Billy shutting and locking the door behind them before starting up the stairs in search of a bedroom.

Steve's room actually isn't hard to find. The door is standing open, there's clothes all over the floor, records and books and papers strewn over almost every flat surface.

Billy walks in, despite his apprehension, and deposits Steve on his bed as gently as he can, watching as Steve immediately shifts to get more comfortable, kicking his shoes off in the process.

Billy wanders into the bathroom, fills a cup with water, grabs the aspirin off the counter, and sets both of those things on Steve's bedside table, grabbing an empty trash bin and dragging it closer to the edge of the bed just in case.

He heads quietly down the stairs, clicking lights off as he goes, and curses when he sees what time it is. Neil will kill him if he comes home this late, and Steve really shouldn’t be left alone in his state.

Billy shrugs as he makes up his mind and steps further into the living room, dropping down onto the couch.

He’ll only stay a few hours, just until he’s sure Neil will be at work, he’ll be out of here before Steve is even awake.

He should have known before he even sat down that he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, because he lasts maybe twenty minutes before falling asleep.

_He's back home in his room, standing shirtless in front of his mirror, cigarette between his lips. When he sees Steve's reflection behind him in the mirror it's like that night all over again._

_Billy isn't shy, he knows what he looks like, so he doesn't let Steve's presence bother him. Just like that night, he shoots Steve a wink and places the bottle in his hand back on his dresser, dragging his hand down his body._

_But, this is where it changes. Instead of just continuing what he was doing and leaving Steve to watch, Billy meets Steve's eyes in the mirror and motions for him to come closer, and Steve does._

_He doesn't hesitate in opening the window and letting himself in, walking further into the room until he's close enough to touch._

_There's a tense moment where they lock eyes in the mirror before Billy turns around and pulls Steve into him, cupping his face in his hands and pressing their foreheads together before sliding his hands back to tangle in Steve's hair._

_Steve's hands move from Billy's hips up, fingers tracing his ribs up to his chest, his touch softer than anything Billy thinks he's ever felt._

_Billy goes tense at the thought. This is a dream, he knows it is. It has to be. Nothing this good ever happens to him. He doesn't deserve it._

_Steve's hand on his cheek startles him out of his head and when he opens his eyes to Steve **right there** he just has to do something. So he leans in slowly, eyes on Steve's lips so close to his own-._

Billy wakes up to water running upstairs and jolts up in a blind panic before he remembers where he is. He takes a second to calm down before heading up to check on Steve, finding him leaning over the sink in his bathroom.

“How's that hangover treating you Harrington?” Billy asks, leaning against the doorjamb, crossing his arms over his chest.

Steve’s entire body goes tense, Billy sees his eyes go wide in the mirror.

“Steve?” he questions, moving from the doorway.

Steve stands straight as Billy gets closer, flinching away from his outstretched hand, and Billy stops in his tracks.

“What are you doing here?” Steve asks, his voice low, not meeting Billy’s eyes. “You can’t be here,” he adds, before Billy can say anything.

Billy holds his hands up in front of himself, feeling a bit defensive despite trying not to. “Woah Harrington, calm down, I just stayed to make sure you didn’t choke on your own tongue. You were pretty fucked up last night,” he says.

Steve nods, still not meeting Billy’s eyes, and ushers Billy out of the bathroom, shutting the door between them once Billy is out. “You have to go, you can’t be here. Nobody's ever-“ Steve stops and Billy can hear his breathing pick up on the other side of the door.

“They never come here,” he mutters, and Billy is pretty sure he’s talking to himself now.

“Alright Harrington, I’ll go, I’m going,” Billy says, showing himself out of Steve’s room when he gets no answer.

He goes downstairs, out the front door, and to his car without stopping, slamming his hands into the steering wheel in frustration as soon as he gets in the car.

“Fuck,” he curses, looking back up at the house.

He knows Steve’s in there probably thinking some things went down that didn’t, and Billy gets why he kicked him out, but, fuck, if Steve would just let him explain things would go a lot smoother.  
Billy sits in his car in the driveway for a few minutes before starting the engine and taking off down the road.

He doesn’t go straight home, instead, he stops at the quarry and smokes a few cigarettes while trying to decide how he’s going to convince Steve that he’s not some grabby pervert. He’s just finished his second cigarette when he decides that his “thinking” would look a lot like moping to anybody else, and he gets back in his car and drives off with a muttered curse.

Fucking ridiculous, moping over Harrington. This small town bullshit really is changing him for the worse.

Max is in the living room when Billy gets home, sitting on the floor cross legged in front of the TV.

“Where were you all night?” she asks without looking away from the TV.  
Billy scowls but stays quiet.

“I’m the only one here, mom went shopping,” Max adds, and she’s looking at him when Billy turns back to the living room.

“You look like shit,” she says, eyebrows raised, amused smirk on her face.

“Fuck off Maxine,” he says half heartedly, heading upstairs to take a shower.

The shower helps, Max was right, he really did look like shit. Beating the fuck out of four douches and then crashing on a couch for five hours will do that apparently.

Billy pulls on a pair of jeans and drops face first onto his bed, content to stay there for the rest of the day, so of course that’s when Max knocks on his door.

“Fuck off Maxine,” Billy groans into his pillow, she ignores him and pushes the door open anyway.

“Hey, can you drive me to the arcade,” she asks.

Billy turns his head to glare at her. “I just fuckin' got here,” he says.

She scoffs. “You were in the shower for like, an hour and a half,” she tells him.

Billy drops his head into his pillow again.

“Come on William, it’s not like you’re doing anything,” she says. “And you don’t have to stay, just, drop me off,” she adds.

Billy rolls to sit on the side of the bed, grabbing his cigarettes off his nightstand and lighting one. “Why do you need me to give you a ride anyway? Can’t you get a ride from one of your nerd friends?” Billy grumbles.

Max rolls her eyes. “Well I could have, if Dustin had told me about his plan to drag everyone to Steve’s, but he didn’t so now I have to meet them there,” she says. “That’s why we're going, Dustin finally got Steve to leave the house again, so he wants all of us there,” she adds, not giving Billy a chance to talk.

“Steve’s gonna be there?” he asks, grabbing a, fairly clean, shirt off his floor and pulling it on over his shoulders. Max is giving him a weird look when he looks up at her.

“Yeah, so?” she asks.

Billy shrugs, trying to play it off like he doesn’t care. “Nothing, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just go,” he says, standing from the bed and pushing past her into the hallway.

“Wait, so, you’re taking me?” she asks, pulling the door closed behind her.

Billy spins his keys around his finger as he walks down the stairs. “Not if you don’t fucking hurry up,” he calls back, laughing as she bolts to her room.

He gets, yet another, weird look from Max when he takes the key out of the ignition and opens his door.

“You’re coming in?” she asks, her look turning suspicious.

He shrugs again. “And?” he replies.

For a minute it looks like she might say something, but instead she just shakes her head and goes inside.

Billy drops down into the empty booth, glancing around for Steve in a way that he hopes isn’t too obvious; either way, Billy finds him pretty quick and drops his eyes back to the table in front of him before anyone can catch him looking.

He sinks down a little in the booth and drags a hand down his face. What the fuck is he even doing here? Checking up on Steve, like it’s any of his fucking business wondering how Steve is doing in the first place. Jesus he’s an idiot, what the fuck is wrong with him lately.

Billy sits himself back upright and goes to leave the booth, ready to bash his fucking head in with how stupid this whole thing was, but when he looks up he’s not alone anymore. Two of the kids, Nancy's brother and the weird quiet girl, are standing a bit away from the booth whispering to each other and looking at him.

Nancy’s brother looks about ready to piss himself when he sees Billy looking, whispering something to the girl before grabbing her arm to try and lead her away. She doesn’t budge, glaring and pulling her arm away.

Billy chuckles, good for her.

He whispers something again, his eyes darting towards Billy and away in a fraction of a second, like he’s afraid to be caught looking, like he thinks Billy will hurt him.

He bristles at that, his annoyance at himself instantly shifting to this fucking kid.

“Do you assholes need something?” he spits, raising an eyebrow.

The kids eyes shift from the girl, to Billy, and back again. “See, what did I tell you? Now let’s just go,” he says, going to lead her away again.

Again she doesn’t move, stares him down until he lets her go, and again Billy can’t help a small laugh, despite his annoyance. “No,” she tells him, her voice firm, turning to face Billy despite the kids protests.

She starts towards him and Billy’s annoyance fades a bit, curiosity taking its place. She stops at the edge of the table, a few steps from where Billy is still seated and looks him over. The silence is verging on uncomfortable when the kid suddenly smiles at him and reaches out.

Billy doesn’t flinch, but she must see something on his face because she stops and pulls her hand back, her smile dropping slightly. She gives a smaller, almost apologetic, smile and reaches up to touch her own ear. “Pretty,” she tells him.

It takes him a minute to put the pieces together, reaching up to touch his own ear the way she’s touching hers and smiling when he realizes what she’s talking about.

“You think so?” he asks, pulling at his earring. She nods and smiles wider.

“Thanks kid,” he says, still smiling.

“Jane,” she tells him, sticking her hand out in front of herself, all smiles.

He laughs as he reaches out to shake her hand. “Alright, Jane, I’m Billy,” he tells her, letting go of her hand.

“Okay Jane, let’s go now,” the Wheeler kid says, still standing where he had been earlier, looking genuinely worried.

Billy rolls his eyes and flops back in the booth again, surprised when she doesn't immediately get up and leave. Instead, she turns and glares at him again, before sitting down in the booth across from Billy and looking away from the Wheeler kid completely.

She glances back at Billy’s earring, touching her own ear again with a small smile. “Did it hurt?” she asks.

Billy shakes his head no. “Nah, not really,” he says. She nods, still touching her own ear. “I could pierce yours if you wanted,” he adds.

She smiles wider, obviously excited, and the Wheeler kid butts in again.

“I don’t think Hopper would like that,” he says, looking only at Jane.

Billy rolls his eyes and Jane giggles.

“Come on Jane, let’s go see what everyone else is doing,” the Wheeler kid says, still ignoring Billy.

Jane meets his eyes. “No Mike, you go,” she tells him. Billy can't help but chuckle.

“Hey Mike-“ another kid calls, approaching the table, freezing in place when he sees Billy. “What’s he doing here?” the kid asks, adjusting his hat. “And why is Jane sitting with him?” he adds, his eyes practically bulging out of there sockets.

“Dustin? What’s going on over here?” Steve asks, approaching the kids, stopping when he sees Billy, his eyes going wide.

Billy curses under his breath. He knew he shouldn’t have come. “I’m gonna go grab a smoke,” he says to Max, who had joined the rest of them around the table, as he stands from the booth and heads outside.

“Fuck,” he spits, kicking at his tire. He shouldn’t have fucking come here, what was he thinking? That Steve was going to be happy to see him?

He drags a hand through his hair, grits his teeth, and closes his eyes.

It doesn't matter if Steve doesn’t want to see him, it’s not like they’re friends. And, yeah, Billy had helped him out, so what? That doesn’t make him Billy’s responsibility.

Fuck Harrington, honestly, who the fuck does he think he is.

“Billy?” he hears behind him.

Speak of the fucking devil.

Billy takes a deep breath and turns to face Steve, finds him standing there with his eyes on the ground, the corner of his bottom lip between his teeth.

“What’s up Harrington?” Billy asks, grabbing a cigarette out of the pack and putting it between his lips to light it.

Steve’s eyes dart up nervously to meet Billy’s before dropping again. He starts chewing on his bottom lip, looking anywhere but at Billy, his hands in fists at his sides.

Billy takes a drag of his cigarette and leans back against the Camaro.

Steve eventually groans and looks up again. “I’m sorry,” he says.

Billy raises an eyebrow.

“About this morning. I’m sorry I freaked out like that. I had, too much last night, and when you were there I just-” Steve stops, like he thinks he said too much, and looks back to his shoes. “I’m just, sorry,” he adds.

Billy takes another drag, looks Steve up and down, notes the tremble of nerves.

Steve, apparently taking Billy’s silence the wrong way, starts talking again. “And, I’m sorry for last night too. Tommy shouldn’t have bothered you. Those guys just-”.

Billy stops him. “Don’t fucking make excuses for those assholes, they’re lucky they left breathing,” he growls. Steve swallows hard. “Tommy actually did something right for once,” he adds under his breath.

“Still, I’m sorry,” Steve says, his voice low.

Billy takes a drag. “You don’t have to apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong,” he says. “I didn’t mean to stick around so long anyway, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t choke on your own vomit or something,” he adds.

Steve huffs a laugh. “Thanks, for all of it. You didn’t have to,” he says after a second.

Billy shrugs, dropping the last of his cigarette to the pavement and smirking. “What can I say Harrington, I’m a gentleman,” he says.

Steve actually bursts out laughing at that, doubling over like he might fall. “Oh fuck you Hargrove, gentleman my ass,” he says once he catches his breath, wiping at his eyes as he stands up straight.

Billy smiles, can’t help it, not after seeing Steve laugh like that. “Keep it up pretty boy, I’ll show you just how much of a gentleman I can be,” Billy tells him, almost a promise, bumping their shoulders together as he heads back into the arcade.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the late update, I'd like to say it won't happen again, but I'm busy this weekend, so it might. Maybe I'll update Friday...stick around to find out!

Steve shows up early the next day, allowing Mrs. Henderson to usher him inside and coo over him while Dustin bumbles around upstairs getting ready.

He thinks it’s a bit odd when Dustin goes straight for the front door instead of joining them in the kitchen, but Mrs. Henderson just shrugs it off so Steve doesn't say anything.

When Dustin is unusually quiet the entire drive, Steve decides to ask about it, especially when he parks in his usual spot and Dustin doesn’t immediately rush out of the car towards his friends.

“What's up Dustin? You alright?” he asks.

Dustin pulls his hat further down his forehead and turns to Steve, a serious look on his face. “Are you alright?” he asks.

_Fucking wonderful_ , **of course** this is about him. The conversation with Max should have tipped him off.

“Wh-” Steve stops to think, wonders briefly when the kids had started actively worrying about him, and looks back to Dustin. “Yeah, man, I'm fine. Why do you ask?” he replies.

“Because, you've been acting weird, and not just since we sent you to Max's for the notebook, it was before that too,” Dustin tells him.

Yeah, of course he has, most people would after seeing what Steve had seen. Plus, **Billy Hargrove** is after him now, Steve has to check around every corner **twice**.

Except, he doesn't, or, at least, he doesn't think he does. The other night, in the parking lot outside the store, that had felt like _something_ , and the party the other night, the way Billy helped him, that had **definitely** felt like something. Like maybe something had shifted, maybe things would be different now.

“And I know you told Max it wasn’t because of Billy, but I keep seeing him _looking_ at you. So, like, if he’s harassing you, Jane can tell Hopper,” he adds.

It really says something about Steve’s character that his first thought is; _“Billy's been **looking** at me?”_.

“Wh-. Jesus, Dustin, no. There's no reason to get Hopper involved. Billy isn’t bothering me, okay? And whatever you _think_ you’re seeing, it’s purely coincidental alright? I’m fine,” Steve tells him.

Dustin heaves a sigh, like he’s been inconvenienced somehow, and flops back in his seat. “Are you _sure_ Billy isn’t bothering you?” he asks, almost like he’s hoping Steve will change his answer.

“I’m sure Dustin. Now, come on, I’m gonna be late for homeroom,” Steve replies, getting out of the car, a groaning Dustin following suit. Steve grabs Dustin by the backpack before he can make his escape, slinging an arm over his shoulders and giving him a serious look. “Now, I’m gonna say this once; no more sneak attacks. I don’t want Will and Lucas showing up later asking me the same question. Twice is enough, got it?” he says.

Dustin sighs, but relents, nodding his head. “Fine, no more surprise attacks. But it’s coming from a good place,” he says.

Steve rolls his eyes pulling Dustin into his side, giving him a noogie. “I get where it’s coming from, thanks, but you guys don’t need to worry. I’m really fine,” he repeats.

Dustin struggles out of his grip, shoving him a little as he readjusts his hat on his head. “Alright, I get it, I’ll call off the attacks. Just, stop being weird,” Dustin says, and Steve scoffs a laugh.

“Go to class. I’ll see you after school,” Steve tells him instead of anything else.

Dustin mutters; _“when did you turn into a mom,”_ under his breath and runs off before Steve can bitch about it.

He's two minutes late to homeroom and the second he sits down he feels eyes on him. He's expecting to find Nancy in her usual spot, maybe wondering why he was late when she'd seen him show up early, but when he turns towards her she's talking to Jonathan.

Confused, he keeps looking, coming up empty on all the usual subjects, before his eyes settle on Billy, in the back row, staring straight at him.

He freezes, not unlike a deer in the headlights, and Billy smirks slow, predatory. It makes Steve want to bolt. He can still see it when he turns away.

_It keeps happening._ Every class they share, Steve can _feel_ Billy's eyes on him, like he can't look away.

It's making him antsy all over again, and that, unfortunately, does not go unnoticed.

He’s heading towards the cafeteria when he sees Billy walking towards him and freezes in place. Billy, of course, notices this, that damned smirk appearing on his face as he makes his way closer.

He doesn’t even say anything, just stops in front of Steve for a second, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and putting one between his lips. Steve is still frozen in place, breath coming rapidly as Billy just stands there smirking at him.

He still doesn’t say anything, just dragging his eyes up and down Steve’s body, it makes a thrill run down Steve's spine. Billy must see that too, and Steve definitely sees the blush that takes over Billy’s skin. But neither of them say anything, Billy just gives Steve one more _look_ , brushing their shoulders together as he walks by.

It’s not until someone else bumps into him that Steve snaps out of his trance and starts towards the cafeteria again. Johnathan is the only one at the table when he sits down and Steve offers a slight nod, settling into the comfortable silence.

“I need to talk to you about Billy,” Nancy says when she joins them a minute or so later.

Steve chokes on his water. “Wh-” he starts, his coughing fit stopping him. “What?” he asks, as soon as his coughing subsides.

Nancy has an eyebrow raised when she looks at him, like she thinks he might be crazy. Steve almost laughs with how true that is. “Um, Dustin told me I needed to talk to you about Billy. Apparently he’s harassing you,” she says.

“Oh,” Steve replies, letting out a sigh of relief. “No, he’s-. There's nothing-. I’m fine, Billy isn’t harassing me, Dustin is imagining things” he tells her.

“I don’t know Steve, I have noticed him hanging around you,” she says, looking skeptical. “If he’s bothering you I’m sure Hop can-”.

“Jesus, what is it with you people and getting Hopper involved,” Steve interrupts, lowering his voice when he sees Nancy’s wide eyes. “Sorry. I just-. It’s fine Nance, I’m fine,” he says, much quieter.

She doesn’t drop the weird look, but she doesn’t push it either, just nods slightly and goes back to her lunch.

Steve groans in the back of his throat. He has a feeling this isn’t going to be the last he hears about this particular subject.

He isn't sure when his life became everybody's business, but he wishes they would just drop it already.

He gets that Billy hanging around is weird, and with what went down at the Byers Steve isn't surprised that they all think Billy is harassing him. But that is not even close to what is happening.

Steve knows why Billy is hanging around. Well, he thinks he knows anyway, but he's not going to ask Billy about it. He's not gonna bring it up to anyone else either.

No. **Hell no**. He's happy they care and all but there is no way he's talking to anybody about this.

He'll just stick to telling them, no, Billy is not harassing him. They'll have to drop it eventually.

At least, he hopes they will.

Steve is leaning back against his locker waiting for Nancy when Billy shows up. Steve rolls his eyes and pushes off the locker as soon as he sees him, but Billy is on him before he can get too far, pushing him back against his locker and boxing him in, their chests brushing on every inhale with how close Billy is.

“You gonna talk to me today?” Billy asks, his voice low.

Steve ignores him to the best of his ability, watching the empty hallway behind Billy for any sign of Nancy. Billy steps closer, startling Steve enough that he looks down, meets Billy's eyes.

“C'mon Stevie,” he says, in a tone that makes Steve's mouth go dry. He doesn't reply, lest he make a fool of himself, but he can't look away. Billy smirks, slow and dangerous, and it hits Steve like a punch to the gut. “You gonna make me beg Stevie? I can get on my knees all pretty for ya if you want,” he says, voice impossibly lower, sounding like pure sex in Steve's opinion.

Steve feels his entire body go hot, sure he's blushing ridiculously, and puts his hands on Billy's shoulders. Whether it's to hold him in place or urge him down is anybody's guess.

“No, no. I'll talk to you. I'm talking to you. Happy?” Steve stutters out.

Billy's smirk grows. “It's a start,” he says, dropping his hands from the locker and standing up taller, fishing a crushed pack of Marlboros from inside his jacket and putting a cigarette between his lips.

“I'll see ya around pretty boy,” he says before, finally, stepping out of Steve's space and making his way out of the school.

Steve, wide eyed, watches him walk away, sliding down the lockers once Billy is out of sight, dropping his head into his hands and struggling to catch his breath. “Fuck,” he curses, too caught up in his inner turmoil to notice Jonathan making a quick exit.

Jonathan isn't entirely sure what he just saw. He knows something has been going on between Steve and Billy lately because the kids have been worried about it, and, honestly after what happened between them at his house, Jonathan doesn't blame them.

But, **that** , what he'd just seen, was nothing like what happened at his house that night.

It was just as tense, there's no doubt about that. But it was a different kind of tension.

In theory, it could have just been Billy being a dick, but, as close as they were, paired with the looks on their faces; it just didn't make sense.

It had looked too intimate. Jonathan half expected them to start making out, which, actually wouldn't have surprised him too much.

Whatever had been going on, he made sure to get out of there quick. He'd ask about it later, that seemed safer than sticking around to watch it play out.

Steve’s pulled himself together by the time Nancy shows up a few minutes later, and is able to carry on a normal conversation like he isn’t replaying what just happened in his head on a loop.

Steve drops into the drivers seat when they get to his car, reaching across to pull his cigarettes out of the glove compartment and lighting one while they wait for the kids to make their way over. He nods when he sees Jonathan crossing the parking lot.

Jonathan won't meet his eyes, and Steve instantly knows he’s going to hate this.

“Um, quick question. Are you playing an elaborate game of gay chicken with **Billy Hargrove?** Because, unless I've entered an alternate dimension, it's the only possible explanation for what I saw earlier,” Jonathan says, joining them at Steve's car.

Steve groans, dropping his head to beat against the steering wheel, he was hoping he had been the only witness to that particular incident.

Jonathan nods; “Cool, gotcha. I thought you were, but I figured I should at least ask”.

Nancy looks between the two of them, her eyes widening. “You're kidding,” she blurts. Neither of them say anything. “Steve; **Billy Hargrove**. I thought you said he wasn't bothering you” she scolds, punching him in the shoulder.

“Ow,” Steve mumbles, lifting his head and rubbing at his shoulder. “Look Nance, I just-. I don't know what happened, and I honestly don't know what's going on anymore,” he tells her.

She meets his eyes briefly before walking around the car and seating herself in the passenger seat.

“What are you doing?” Steve asks, dropping his cigarette butt to the pavement.

"We're going to your house, we're going to talk about this, and I'm going to help you,” she tells him, very matter-of-fact.

“No, Nance, come on. It's fine, I'm ignoring it, he'll get bored eventually,” Steve tells her.

She turns her head to meet his eyes. “We are talking about this Steve. Now drive,” she tells him.

He looks from her to Jonathan, rolling his eyes when he gets nothing but a shrug and a; “I can give Dustin a ride home,”. Steve lets out a long sigh as he pulls out of his parking space.

The drive is quiet. Steve had tried starting the discussion she was insisting they have, twice, but she had glared him into silence both times, so he settles for drumming his hands against the steering wheel and trying to ignore the silence.

“What the hell Steve,” she says, as soon as the door shuts behind them.

He drops his head into his hands, again, and leans back against the door behind him; “I told you Nance-”.

She puts a hand up to stop him. “Don't lie to me Steve, you know what started this, so tell me,” she says, meeting his eyes.

He takes a deep breath, his face and neck going red. She raises an eyebrow at him. “I uh, I saw him, _doing_ something, and he knows I saw him, so now this is happening,” he replies, very carefully not meeting her eyes. “But it’s not a big deal, okay? He’s hardly even bothering me anymore,” he adds.

“Dustin’s right, you are acting weird,” she says after a minute, turning to walk further into the house.

Steve heaves a sigh of relief at the dropped subject and follows her into the kitchen. “I’m telling him you said that,” Steve tells her.

She stops digging through his cupboards long enough to glare at him. “You will not. He'll never shut up about it,” she says, resuming her search.

Steve walks to the pantry, grabbing two snack cakes and moving to pull himself up on the counter, clearing his throat to get Nancy’s attention and holding the cake up when she looks at him. She stops her search immediately and moves to join him on the counter.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” she asks again, quieter this time, sincere. Steve can tell this is _her_ worrying about him.

He takes a bite of the cake, chews slowly.

“Because if he’s bothering you, I can-”.

Steve nearly chokes on the cake in his mouth trying to answer her. “He’s not bothering me Nance,” he says. Because it’s the truth. Billy isn’t bothering him.

She's still looking at him like she thinks he's lying, so he turns to face her and puts on his most sincere face. “Billy isn’t bothering me Nance. I promise,” he repeats.

She holds eye contact for a minute, and he knows she’s waiting for him to break, but she just huffs an annoyed sigh when he doesn’t. “Fine, I’ll drop it. But I can’t speak for Dustin,” she says.

“I’ll deal with Dustin,” he replies, sliding off the counter. “Thanks Nance,” he adds. She makes a face, sticking her tongue out as she slides off the counter and heads for the living room.

They spend another hour or so watching some sappy love story Nancy had pulled off the shelf, and then Steve drives her home. Mrs. Wheeler invites him to stay for dinner, but he declines. It doesn’t feel right eating dinner with them, he doesn’t belong there.

He drives into town for a pizza and heads back to his empty house. He doesn't bother turning on the lights, just drops down on the couch and eats a couple slices of pizza in the dark.

He hates this. Being alone in the house. It's too big and too quiet, Steve feels like he's suffocating.

“Fuck,” he says, out loud, to no one. He hates when he gets mopey like that. He grabs his cigarettes from his pocket and lays back on the couch to smoke one, fuck what his parents have to say about the smell.

He tries to think about something to get his mind off his loneliness, and who should pop up in his mind front and center but Billy _fucking_ Hargrove.

**Fuck** Billy Hargrove, honestly. Who the hell does he think he is, worming his way into Steve's thoughts. With his stupid hair, and his stupid car, and his abs. Steve chokes on smoke, just the thought of Billy’s eyes on him has him hot under the collar.

He growls, dropping his cigarette into his coke can as he stands up from the couch.

Fuck Billy Hargrove.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just gonna keep apologizing in these. Things are crazy currently, I'll try to keep the uploads frequent. Sorry.

Neil comes home angry, which isn't anything new, and Billy isn't surprised. So when Neil comes at him swinging he just pulls his arms up and does his best to cover his head.

Neil is cursing and spitting, Billy honestly isn't even paying attention to what he's saying, mostly trying to zone out and pretend he's anywhere else, so the fist to the jaw takes him by surprise. His head snaps back with the force of it and he feels his lip split against Neil’s knuckles. Neil gets in one more good hit, knuckles crunching painfully across Billy's nose, before Billy throws his arms back up to protect himself.

Neil is yelling now, blaming Billy for everything from his mothers leaving, to their having to move. He's really had enough of it, he kinda wishes the guy would just kill him already.

“Hey!”.

Billy doesn't realize he's closed his eyes until they snap open. The front door is standing open, Max's backpack and skateboard dropped in the middle of the hallway, and Max, fire in her eyes, is stomping up to them.

Neil stops hitting him, his face shifting as he turns to look at her. “Maxine, what are you doing home? You're supposed to be with your friends,” he says.

She glares. “Fuck off Neil,” Max spits, showing no fear, despite what she'd just seen.

Neil's lip lifts in a snarl and Billy panics. “Piss off Maxine, I can handle this,” he says, surprised by the desperation in his voice.

She meets his eyes, mouthing, _“I'm sorry,”_ , and Billy thinks, _“yes, she's walking away, she'll be safe”._

“Listen to him and run along, this is none of your business,” Neil says, turning away from her again.

Billy cowers despite himself, usually better about showing weakness in a situation like this, the pain in his face making him weary.

“No. Stop it!” Max yells, causing Neil to growl.

“Go back to your friends girl,” he tells her, his voice dark. He physically recoils when she steps between them.

Max has no problem getting in his face. “Leave him alone Neil,” she spits, looking angrier than Billy has ever seen her.

Neil narrows his eyes at her and goes to step closer.

Max just squares her shoulders. “What? You gonna hit me too? I bet mom would love that,” she threatens. Billy can practically see how that would go, because Susan may not give a shit about him, but if Neil were to put his hands on her precious little angel, she may just burn the house down around him, not quite under his thumb yet. Neil falters and Max smirks. “Come on Billy, we're leaving,” she tells him.

He nods, standing on shaky legs and walking to his car, Max trailing behind him. They hear something crash in the house, causing Billy to flinch, and Max throws her bag and her skateboard into the backseat, climbing into the passenger seat as Billy starts the car.

He pulls out of the driveway and starts driving. They fall into an uncomfortable silence for a while before Billy breaks it. “We don't have anywhere to go Max,” he says. Because it's true, they don't. Sure, Max has some friends that might take ,em>her in, but Billy? He has nowhere else to go.

“Turn here. I know somewhere we can try,” she says, her voice low.

Billy turns and the car falls into silence again, the soft lull of the radio and Max's occasional directions the only noise. She leads them into a ritzy part of town, all expensive cars and fenced back yards, Billy just knows it's full of yuppies.

“Max, where are you taking us?” he finally asks, looking around, the familiarity making him uneasy.

“Right here, stop,” she tells him gesturing to a house on their right. “The lights on, that means it's clear, pull in,” she adds.

He gives her a look, but pulls into the driveway anyway, turning the car off and looking at her. “Who's house is this Max?” he asks, because they **can't** be where he thinks they are.

“It'll be fine Billy, just, trust me,” she says, waiting for his nod to get out of the car, stopping near the front and waiting for him to get out.

He rolls his eyes and groans, but he can see her shaking, the unshed tears in her eyes, so he goes.

She walks up to the door and rings the bell without hesitation, like she knows whoever is on the other side of that door will help. It only takes a few seconds before the door swings open to reveal _Steve Harrington_ , of all people, rumpled and looking like they just woke him up, even though it's only fucking eight thirty.

“Max?” Steve questions, like maybe he's seeing things. His eyes then flick up to Billy, widening when he sees his face. Billy is impressed, it's the first time in almost a week the guy has been able to actually _look_ at him. “Holy shit Billy, are you bleeding?” he asks, immediately shaking his head, like he knows it was a dumb question. “Are you guys okay?” he tries, looking back to Max.

She shakes her head no, her lower lip jutted out and trembling. Then she does something Billy has never seen her do; she throws her arms around Steve's waist, buries her face in his t-shirt, and starts sobbing. Not the kind of crying she does to get out of trouble when she gets caught nicking a candy bar off a store shelf, openly bawling, snot and hiccups, the whole bit. It hits Billy then, how young she is, still a fucking kid, and already Neil is fucking up her life.

Billy wouldn't know what to do in this situation, but Steve seems to know exactly how to handle it. His face goes soft and he puts one hand on the back of her head, dropping the other one to rub her back, shushing her and mumbling; “it's okay Max, it'll be okay”.

Billy doesn't know where he gets off saying that, seeing as he has no idea what they've been through, but he finds himself oddly comforted anyway.

“Come on, let's get you guys inside. We can order pizza, maybe watch a movie,” he says, backing into the house, Max still firmly attached.

And just like that, he's inviting them in, getting Max settled on the couch with a blanket around her shoulders, telling Billy to pick a movie off the shelf as he walks off to order some pizzas. No questions, no interrogating, just Max telling him they aren't okay and he invites them in.

“I told you it'd be fine,” Max says, from her spot on the couch, where she's snuggled in a large blanket.

Billy glances up from his movie search and meets her eyes. “How'd you know he'd help? We ain't exactly friends,” he replies. Because it's true, he and Steve aren't friends, despite whatever has been going on for the last week, they _aren't_ friends.

She shrugs, the movement barely visible. “I trust him, and he's a nice guy,” she says. Billy rolls his eyes and looks back at the movies. “Besides, he told us we could come to him for anything, and the light was on, so I figured it was safe,” she adds.

“What does that mean, _“the light was on”?_ Is that some nerd code or something?” he asks, unable to stop himself from teasing.

Now it's her turn to roll her eyes. “No, dick breath, it's what he told us. When the light's on he'll answer the door, when it's off his parents are home, so it's a toss up on who you'll get,” she replies, teasing right back.

Billy can't help a small smile, though it hurts like a bitch and reopens his split lip.

“Alright, pizza is on the way,” Steve says, reentering the room, looking at both of them, wincing a bit at the state of Billy's injuries. “Here, let's clean that up. You okay here for a second Max?” he asks. Max just nods as Billy, helplessly, is dragged off towards the bathroom.

Steve lets him go when they reach the bathroom and Billy drops down on the edge of the bathtub while Steve digs around under the sink. He pulls out a first aid kit, which Billy scoffs at, but Steve just rolls his eyes, pulling out a cotton swab and wetting it with something.

“This might sting a little bit,” he warns, swiping over the split on Billy's lip, wincing when Billy flinches. “Sorry,” he says, pulling away once the blood is clear. “I'll get you some ice for your nose,” he adds as he leaves the bathroom.

Billy stands from the edge of the tub to look at himself in the mirror. His lip is already swelling, and he's definitely going to have at least one black eye, but it's nothing new. He wipes the blood from under his nose and splashes some water on his face, he can hear Steve and Max talking in the other room, he can't hear exactly what they're saying, but she sounds relaxed which is a drastic change from earlier. He pats his face dry and leaves the bathroom deciding to join them in the living room. Max is laughing about something, and Billy can hear Steve in the kitchen.

“Yeah, they can be a handful at times, but they mean well,” Steve says, walking into the living room, ice pack in hand. He's smiling which, annoyingly, makes him even more attractive.

Billy takes the ice pack when Steve offers it to him, nodding his thanks as Steve smiles wider. He feels himself flushing, ridiculously, under the attention, his neck going hot, and Steve opens his mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

Steve walks off to get the pizza and Billy drops onto the couch, glaring at Max's look and settles the ice pack over the bridge of his nose.

When Steve comes back he sets the pizza boxes on the table and puts the movie in before settling on the couch next to Max.

They watch the movie mostly in silence, only an occasional laugh or murmur to disrupt it. Overall it's nice, Billy's comfortable, despite being in a strange house with a not quite friend. Steve still isn't asking questions, and instead of making him nervous, all Billy can feel is relieved. He doesn't want to explain this, wouldn't know how to if he was asked, so he's actually glad for the quiet.

Billy dozes off at some point, half stretched out on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table. He wakes up when the TV shuts off, plunging the room into near darkness. Max is asleep in her nest of blankets, Steve is up, moving all the pizza to one box and cleaning up the plates. Billy lays there as Steve cleans up the mess from dinner, disappearing to the kitchen briefly to put the pizza away and drop the plates in the sink.

When he comes back to the living room he unearths Max from the blankets and picks her up off the couch. “Come on, there's a bedroom you can sleep in upstairs,” he says, motioning for Billy to follow him.

He gets Max tucked in first, smoothing her hair back out of her face and offering a small smile when she blinks up at him. “The bathroom is through there, and my room is right across the hall, I'll leave the door open, you can wake me up if you need anything,” he says, keeping his voice low enough that Billy can barely hear him from where he's leaning in the doorway.

“Thanks Steve, goodnight,” she replies. He tells her goodnight and starts back towards the door, Billy moving to let him through. “Goodnight Billy,” she says, before they can walk away.

He turns and meets her eyes, sure his surprise is showing on his face. “Night Max,” he says anyway, unable to keep himself from returning her smile.

Steve pulls the door shut behind them, leading Billy to a room across the hall. “Alright, the bathroom is next to Max's room, I'm right next door if you need anything, there's an extra blanket in the bottom drawer if you need it,” Steve tells him, looking over at him and tilting his head. “Wait here a second,” he says, turning and leaving the room.

Billy hears Steve open his bedroom door, sees the light flick on, and then Steve's back, a pair of sweats and a t-shirt in hand.

“Here. The shirt might be a little tight, so you don't have to wear it, but the sweats should fit okay,” he says, handing the clothes to Billy.

Billy nods, taking the clothes. “Thanks,” he mutters, pulling the clothes closer to his chest.

“No problem. Night Billy,” Steve says, turning and leaving the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

Billy starts shaking almost as soon as he's alone, and he clutches the clothes tighter to his chest, taking a deep breath. He closes his eyes and breathes for a minute, deep breaths in and out until he can unclench his fists and set the clothes down. He gets undressed slowly, his back and ribs sore from the beating he took earlier, he knows he's in for some major bruises later, but he honestly couldn't care less. He puts the clothes Steve had given him on and climbs into bed, pulling the pillows down around him. The shirt is too tight on him, he can feel the seams stretching around his biceps, but it smells like Steve, and for some reason Billy finds that comforting.

He pulls a pillow in close to his chest and falls asleep feeling safer than he has since they moved to this godforsaken town.

Of course, the peace can only last so long.

He doesn't wake up screaming, but it's a near thing. His hands are clenched into tight fists and he's gasping into the pillows, that and the dizziness in his head lets him know he wasn't breathing.

It was that nightmare again. His thirteenth birthday he'd snuck out of school with a couple friends and spent all day in the mall arcade, his aunt had given him $20 in a birthday card and he spent every cent at the mall before going home.

He thought Neil would be working late, he usually was, so he wasn't expecting to be immediately shoved against the wall, pinned by his throat until he couldn't breathe. Neil had held him there until he nearly passed out, spitting at him and cursing. He'd been having nightmares ever since.

“Fuck,” Billy mutters, eyes on the ceiling, dragging one hand through his hair. He's too jittery to go back to sleep, too keyed up, so he pushes the blankets back and stands, digging the pack of Marlboro's out of the pocket of his jeans and making his way downstairs as quietly as possible.

He stops in the kitchen to get a drink of water, choosing to drink directly from the faucet instead of trying to find a cup, before heading out the back door, pulling it closed behind him.

It's cold outside, especially in just a t-shirt, his breath fogging in front of him as he lights up. The cigarette itself doesn't really help calm him down, but being outside helps, even if he is shivering. Eventually though the cold starts bothering him and he makes his way inside, still quiet, aware of the people sleeping just upstairs. Or, the people who are supposed to be sleeping upstairs.

Steve is sitting at the kitchen table, he looks up when Billy closes the back door.

“Couldn't sleep?” Steve asks.

Billy shrugs. “Something like that,” he says, because it's easier than the truth. It's safer than trying to explain the nightmare he's been having everyday since he'd turned thirteen.

“Yeah, same here,” Steve mumbles, dropping his eyes to the table; and, now that Billy is paying attention, Steve looks exhausted. He has dark circles under his eyes, his hair is a mess, and his entire body is shaking slightly, like an addict coming off a bender.

Billy pulls out a chair and drops down across from Steve. “What's the matter pretty boy? Should I check under the mattress for peas?” he asks, smirking slightly.

“Are you calling me a princess?” Steve asks, his smile still unfairly attractive.

Billy shrugs again; “If the tiara fits”.

Steve surprises him then, laughing long and loud, the sound of it filling up the space around them until, suddenly, Billy no longer feels the nightmare clinging to him.

“When was the last time you slept anyway?” Billy asks, keeping the worry from his tone by sheer force of will.

Steve shrugs, still smiling, tears in his eyes even though Billy knows the joke wasn't that funny. “I get a couple hours here and there, sometimes longer, sometimes none at all,” he says, like it's no big deal.

“Jesus Harrington, you're gonna pass out if you keep going like that,” Billy replies, like it's any of his business.

Steve just shrugs again. “I'll be alright,” he says, offering a small smile.

Billy nods, pulls a cigarette out of the pack in his hand and passes it to Steve over the table. He doesn't believe Steve's words for a moment, knows, intimately, what it's like to be haunted by nightmares so dark you're afraid to go to sleep, or just decide that staying up is easier. But, it's really none of his business, and it's not like there's anything he can do anyway, so he decides to take the easy way out. “I'm gonna go back to bed,” he says, keeping his eyes on Steve for another minute before turning and walking back upstairs.

Billy closes the bedroom door behind himself, beating his head on it a few times for good measure.

He feels like shit leaving Steve down there like that. He's letting them stay here despite not knowing what's going on, the least Billy could do is fucking talk to the guy.

He drops backwards onto the bed with a sigh, sure enough that his previous nightmare will keep him from getting anymore sleep.

_He's outside again, Max nowhere in sight, and Steve opens the door in front of him, letting him in._

_For the most part it's just a replay of what happened tonight, just without Max. Then, something shifts._

_Steve pulls his knees to his chest, looking so lonely that Billy's heart aches._

_“I hate being here alone,” Steve admits._

_“Is that why you let me in?” Billy asks._

_Steve glances over at him and the look in his eyes makes Billy feel exposed. Like Steve is seeing everything Billy hides from the world._

_“No,” he says._

_Billy's throat goes tight, and the next thing he knows he's pouring his heart out, telling Steve things he's never said out loud before, listening when Steve does the same._

_They get closer as they're talking, the space between them shrinking until they're knee to knee, sharing a cigarette._

_“Why'd you let me in?” Billy asks, breaking the silence that had settled around them._

_Steve passes the cigarette back, chewing on his bottom lip. “Why'd you come here?” Steve says, instead of answering._

_Billy shrugs. “I trust you,” he blurts, words falling out without a second thought. “Why'd you let me in?” he asks, again._

_“I want you here,” Steve replies, meeting Billy's eyes._

“Ow. Fucking, ow!”

Billy jolts up at the noise and finds Max standing from the floor, kicking at Billy's shoe.

“What the fuck Max. What are you doing in here?” Billy groans dropping back into the pillows, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes.

“You mean besides almost dying tripping over your mess?” she snaps. “I'm waking you up asshole, I don't want to be late. Let's go, I'm gonna go wake Steve up,” she adds, turning to exit the room, kicking Billy's other shoe out of the way as she goes.

Billy takes a second to curse everything he can think of before Max's words register in his head and he bolts out of the room after her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna say I've only missed two uploads, but I could be wrong. I'll still be uploading Sunday as usual, fingers crossed I don't forget this time...

Steve wakes up the next morning to bickering outside his bedroom door.

"Jesus Christ Max, just leave him alone, we can go to school without him," Billy says, and, judging by his tone, it's not the first time he's said it.

"He has to go to school too Billy. Besides, if he gives us a ride maybe Neil will think we really left," Max replies.

Billy scoffs. "Look, Max, just leave the guy alone. He needs sleep more than he needs to go to school, trust me," he tells her.

That's when Steve decides he's heard enough, and that he should probably get more sleep, if **Billy Hargrove** is worried about him.

He stretches and rolls out of bed, tripping over the blankets wrapped around his legs as he makes his way to the door. "I'm up, okay, so you can stop bickering. Just, give me a minute to get dressed and we can go," he says after pulling the door open.

Max smirks and points to the top of her head. "Might wanna do something about that too," she says. Billy huffs a laugh and Steve groans, dragging a hand through the mess that is his hair.

"Just, go downstairs and wait, I'll be down in a minute," he says, shutting his bedroom door and making his way to his bathroom.

They're in the living room when Steve makes his way downstairs, spinning his keys around his finger. "Did you guys eat?" he asks, heading for the front door.

"Eat what? All you have in the kitchen is cold pizza and snack cakes," Max says, Steve does not miss the scolding tone.

"Right. Well, we can stop for breakfast, I just have to stop and pick up Dustin," he replies, sliding into the front seat and starting the car.

Billy slides low in his seat, sunglasses already on though it's not even bright out. "Great, no one told me this was a nerd carpool," he mutters.

Max shoves at his seat. "Shut up asshead, we aren't nerds," she says.

"Max, language," Steve's warns, pulling out of the driveway and heading towards Dustin's.

She rolls her eyes. "Yes mom," she mutters.

Steve ignores it. "And it's not a carpool, I just pick Dustin up because his house is on the way, and his mom works mornings," he adds, to Billy this time.

"Harrington to the rescue. I didn't have you pegged as a cougar kind of guy," Billy says, smirking.

Steve glares. "Gross Hargrove, I'm not. I'm just helping out. Besides, Dustin's cool," he says.

Max snorts a laugh. "Dustin? Cool? Are we thinking of two different people?" she says, raising an eyebrow.

"He's a good kid," Steve replies, looking at her in the rear view mirror.

"So, a nerd," Billy supplies, helpfully, peering at Steve over the tops of his raybans.

Steve rolls his eyes, pulling into Dustin's driveway and getting out of the car, stopping briefly before walking away to give Billy a hard look. "Be nice, okay? It won't kill you," he says.

Billy just rolls his eyes and slides his sunglasses back up his nose. Steve figures that's all he's gonna get, so he shuts his door, and walks up to the house.

Ms. Henderson opens the door, all dressed for work, and smiles when she sees him. “Dustin, honey, Steve is here,” she calls back into the house.

“Great, he’s early. I’m not ready yet, I haven’t even had breakfast!” Dustin yells back, from somewhere in the house.

“Well honey, I’m sure he can wait for you,” she replies.

He offers his most charming smile, the one that always makes his mother's friends melt. “Actually, we were going to stop somewhere for breakfast,” he says, gesturing back to the car behind them.

Billy has rolled down his window, and he offers a wide smile when he sees them looking.

“Oh, well isn’t that nice. You are just a doll,” she says, actually pinching his cheek before turning to call back to Dustin. “Sweetheart, Steve is going to stop somewhere for breakfast,” she says.

A door somewhere upstairs slams and Dustin comes barreling down the stairs, his jacket half on and his backpack unzipped. “Bye mom, love you,” he says in passing, already heading for the car.

“Honey, zip your jacket, it’s cold out this morning,” she calls after him.

He groans, but does what he’s told.

Steve backs up from the door, hands in his jacket pockets. “Have a good day Ms. Henderson,” he says, with another winning smile.

“You too. Drive safe doll,” she replies. She stays on the porch as they pull out of the driveway, waving one last time as they drive off.

Next to him Billy is oddly silent, and when Steve turns to see what's up Billy is smirking. “What's that face for?” he asks.

Billy slides his sunglasses down his nose slightly, just until Steve can see his eyes. “Nothin', _doll_ ,” he teases.

Steve groans. **Of course** Billy heard that. Now he was never going to live it down. “Ya know, Max is right, you are an asshead,” he replies.

Billy just chuckles, pushing the sunglasses back up his nose and settling back into his seat.

Steve decides to drive to the McDonald's just outside town, because they have just enough time to make it there and back, but not quite enough time for the wait at the diner. He pays for his and Dustin’s food, because Billy glares when he offers to pay for all of it, and starts back towards town.

The car is nearly silent on the way back, the radio a quiet lull because Steve is so used to Dustin filling up the silence. "Hey, Dustin, what's up. Why're you so quiet back there?" Steve asks, he sees Dustin shrug in the rear view mirror, his eyes trained out the window.

Max rolls her eyes in the seat next to him. "He's scared of Billy," she says, matter-of-fact.

Dustin's eyes widen as his head whips towards her. "What? Max! I am not," he insists.

Steve glances over to where Billy is sprawled out on the reclined seat next to him, his eyes closed behind his sunglasses. He gets it. Steve had spent the better part of a week _terrified_ , waiting for Billy to live up to the reputation he'd gained. But he hadn't, hasn't still. Steve shrugs. “He's alright Dustin. He won't bite,” he says.

“I'm **not** afraid of him. Max, that's bullshit. This is why we didn't want you to join the party,” Dustin replies, yelling.

“Language,” Steve insists, feeling more and more like a middle aged mother by the second.

The kids both ignore him, too busy bickering to pay him any attention. Steve sighs, glancing over to see how Billy is taking the noise, only to meet his eyes.

Billy smirks when he sees Steve looking, catching his lower lip between his teeth and winking.

Steve looks away quickly, his entire body hot. _“Okay, maybe he won’t bite **you** ”_, he can’t help thinking, swallowing hard as he pulls into the school parking lot.

Dustin and Max stop bickering long enough to get out of the car, Steve and Billy doing the same, Billy moving to lean against the hood of the car and lighting a cigarette.

“Shit,” Dustin curses. Steve drags his eyes away from the curve of Billy’s jawline to see Dustin digging frantically through his backpack.

“What did you forget?” he asks, not surprised in the least.

“My lunch,” Dustin whines in response. “I can’t go without lunch, Steve, _I’ll die_ ,” he tacks on.

Steve scoffs at the dramatics, pulling his wallet out of his pocket and handing Dustin a $20. “Here, you can buy lunch,” he says. Dustin takes it, offering a smile and a “thanks,” as he takes off towards his friends. “You too. I know I don’t have anything at the house,” he says, handing Max a $20 as well.

She smiles in thanks, folding it and putting it in her jacket pocket, looking over at Billy.

Steve follows her look and offers a small smile of his own, leaning closer. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he gets something too,” he says, low enough that only Max can hear.

“Thanks Steve,” she says.

“Not a problem Mad Max. I’ll see you after school,” he says, as she turns and walks over to join Dustin and Lucas.

Steve stays, waiting for the kids to walk into the building before slinging his backpack over his shoulder and heading towards the front of the school, stealing the half smoked cigarette from between Billy’s lips on his way by.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” he calls, and it’s a miracle he doesn’t trip over his own feet trying to turn around with the _look_ Billy gives him.

Steve has _no idea_ what made him do that, what _possessed_ him to take the lit cigarette from **Billy’s mouth** , but he takes a few drags to finish it off and tries not to think about it, ignoring the heat Billy’s gaze caused as he heads for his locker.

Nancy spends every class they share giving Steve weird looks, so he’s surprised when he enters the cafeteria and isn’t immediately confronted by her. He looks around for Billy for a minute, heading to the usual table when he doesn’t find him.

"I didn't know you and Billy were close," Nancy says, setting her tray, and herself, down across the table from Steve a few minutes later.

Steve quirks an eyebrow, doing his best to appear unruffled. "We're not," he says through the burger in his mouth, nodding at Jonathan in greeting when he takes the seat next to Nancy.

"Steve, you drove him to school. Don't even try to deny that, because Dustin told Mike about it the second he saw him," she tells him, raising an eyebrow in challenge when Steve opens his mouth to explain.

"Also, he's wearing your t-shirt, and before you try and argue about that, I know it's your t-shirt, because I've worn it," she adds, looking smug.

Next to her Johnathan chokes on his milk. Steve scrunches his face in confusion, because he had spent enough time with him in the car that morning that he _definitely_ would have noticed.

Nancy points behind him. "Don't believe me, look for yourself," she says.

Steve makes the mistake of taking a drink before turning around. When he sees Billy he chokes, most of his mouthful of water ending up on his jacket.

Billy is walking towards them, followed by two assholes from the basketball team, and sure enough, that's Steve's t-shirt he's wearing. Steve was right to assume it would be tight on him, because _Jesus_ , Billy has never buttoned a shirt all the way up as long as Steve has known him, but this just feels indecent.

Billy stops on the way by, having seen Steve's choking incident, and claps him on the shoulder. "What's the matter Harrington, forget how to swallow?" he teases, smirking. Steve's mouth goes dry and Billy winks as he walks off.

Steve stares after him for a minute, because _holy Christ_ **abs** , before turning back to his own table. Nancy is looking awfully pleased with herself and Steve glares as he pulls his jacket off.

“Shut up Nance,” he grumbles when she starts laughing at him.

She's still laughing at him when Billy stands from his table and starts walking towards them. Steve stands, throwing one more glare in Nancy’s direction, and whistles. Billy looks up at him and Steve gives a slight nod and tosses his extra burger at him. Billy catches it with a raised eyebrow, and Steve walks over to join him.

“What’s this?” Billy asks, holding the burger up.

Steve looks between the burger and Billy, pulling a face. “Have you never seen a burger before?” Steve asks.

Billy flashes teeth when Steve is unable to hide his smirk. “Ha ha. You know what I mean,” he says.

Steve shrugs. “I told Max I’d make sure you got something to eat,” he says.

“I don’t need you to take care of me. I ain’t one of your kids Harrington,” Billy replies, putting a cigarette between his lips. Steve is pretty sure it doesn’t come out with half as much venom as he’d meant it to.

“You’re right, my kids are better behaved,” Steve shoots back without thinking, eyes on the floor, pleased when that startles a laugh out of Billy.

When Steve looks up and finds Billy’s eyes fixed on him his breath catches in his throat. He really wishes Billy would stop doing that. “Can I-. Can I, uh. Can I bum a smoke,” he manages, trying not to let the silence linger.

He turns back to his table to glare when he hears Nancy snort a laugh, only to be stunned into silence again when he looks back at Billy. Steve holds his breath as Billy removes the cigarette from between his lips and tucks it behind Steve’s ear.

“Thanks for lunch pretty boy,” he calls as he’s walking away.

Again Steve can only stare after him, bringing one hand up to the cigarette behind his ear to prove to himself that he isn’t imagining things.

He makes his way slowly back to his table, dropping into his seat once he gets there, still a bit dazed.

“What the hell was that?” Nancy insists after a few quiet minutes.

Steve is still trying to come up with an answer when the bell rings. He has never been happier to go back to class.

Steve drops down into a desk in the back row, looking forward to one class without Nancy's questions and Billy's looks. Of course that goes away pretty quick when Tommy, of all people, drops into the seat in front of him.

“Hey Steve,” he says.

“Tommy,” Steve replies, a harsh tone to his voice. Tommy hasn't wanted anything to do with him since the party the other night.

“You good?” Tommy asks, eyes on his hands.

Steve is losing his patience fast. “I'm fine Tommy. What do you want?” he asks.

Tommy shrugs. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. What happened at the party the other night was pretty fucked up,” he replies.

Steve scoffs, rolling his eyes. “I got fucked up and some guys tried to start some shit. It's not like I'm not used to it,” he mutters.

In truth, he doesn't remember much about the party. There was dancing, drinks, pills; then, nothing. Not until he woke up the next morning with Billy in his house.

He remembered a bit more later. Some guys talking shit about him and Nancy, being led upstairs, presumably to sleep it off, but he still isn't sure where Billy factored in.

When he looks up from his desk Tommy is giving him a confused look.

“He didn't tell you?” Tommy asks, quiet for some reason.

Steve gets a pit in his stomach. “Who didn't tell me what?” he asks.

“Billy,” Tommy replies.

“What happened Tommy?” Steve asks, the pit in his stomach worsening.

Tommy glances around and leans in closer. “I mean, this really isn't the place to talk about it,” he whispers.

Steve fights down his nausea. “Fucking tell me anyway,” he spits.

Tommy looks a little sick himself. “Those guys that were talking to you, they got you fucked up on pills and took you upstairs,” he glances up at Steve, like he's checking his reaction. “Man, I don't even want to think about what would have happened if Billy hadn't been there,” he adds.

Steve goes still. The more he thinks about it, the more he remembers.

He hadn't been led up the stairs, he was more, dragged. He remembers two of them throwing him onto the bed, another one locking the door behind them. The next thing he remembers is a knock at the door, then talking, and finally, Billy on the ground beating the shit out of a guy.

Steve doesn't realize he's shaking until Tommy says something, and Steve quickly gets out of there, rushing to a bathroom and locking himself in one of the stalls.

It's not the first time something like that had happened, hell, it wasn't even the worst, but it is the first time someone had been there to stop it.

He takes a few deep breaths, only exiting the stall when he has himself reasonably under control, moving to the sink to splash some water on his face.

One thing's for sure, Billy Hargrove is an enigma wrapped in a fucking bow. He went from beating the shit out of Steve for no good reason, to, whatever the fuck happened that night on the roof, and that day in the locker room, to, beating the shit out of some would be rapists.

Steve is getting a headache from all the contradictions, and he decides to ditch the last half hour of school, exiting the bathroom and heading towards his car for a smoke.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me, uploading on time for once!

Billy pushes his way out of the school after the final bell already scanning the parking lot for Steve, glancing over briefly when he sees Max talking to Nancy.

They’re too far away for him to hear what they’re saying, but the way they’re smiling unsettles him.

He looks away from them, pushing his unease to the back of his mind, and continues his search for Steve. It takes less than a minute for Billy to find him across the parking lot in his car.

He looks over at Max one more time before making his way towards Steve, stopping to lean against the open car door.

Steve is sitting in the passenger seat looking down at something in his lap, his brow furrowed.

“Fuck Harrington, if you’re gonna bum a smoke off a guy at least have the decency to smoke it,” Billy says, taking the cigarette from behind Steve’s ear.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” Steve mumbles, without looking up.

Billy sneers looking at him. Whatever Steve’s doing is clearly stressing him out. “Relax a little pretty boy, you’re gonna give yourself wrinkles,” Billy tells him, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and passing it to Steve, tapping his shoulder to get his attention.

Steve takes the cigarette with a small smile, taking a long drag before passing it back to Billy. “I didn’t realize you were so concerned about my appearance,” he says, his smile dropping into a smirk.

Billy rolls his eyes; “Eat me Harrington”. Steve huffs a laugh. “What are you doing anyway? Is that an appointment book?” Billy asks through the cigarette between his lips, Steve having gone back to whatever he'd been stressing about.

“Yeah, it’s my dads. I’m just trying to figure out when they’re supposed to be home,” Steve replies, not even looking up this time when Billy passes him the cigarette again, their hands brushing as he takes it.

“Your parents gonna be a problem?” Billy asks, nerves tightening his throat. They don’t have anywhere else to go. Neil will kill him if he goes home.

“Nah, I should be able to talk them down. I mean, my dad won't be thrilled, but he'll do just about anything my mom asks, so it’ll be fine,” Steve tells him, unaware of the weight that removes from Billy’s chest.

Steve flips the book closed, putting it back in the glove compartment and passing the cigarette back to Billy, a strange look still in his eyes.

Billy opens his mouth to tell him that they can go, that he doesn’t have to worry about it, about them, but Max and Dustin come barreling towards the car before he can, and 

Steve’s demeanor changes immediately.

The kids are already arguing when they reach the car. Something about Nancy, and “Jonathan said”. Billy honestly doesn’t care, already annoyed before they even get in the car.

Steve is laughing at him, standing from the passenger seat, and whatever complaint Billy may have had dies on his tongue with how close Steve gets to him. They stay like that for a second, just standing in each other’s space, the kids bickering fading into the background, before Steve seems to remember where they are and takes a step back.

Billy smirks at the blush working it’s way up Steve’s neck and Steve glares as he makes his way to the drivers side of the car.

“He’s taking you home Dustin, and you can bike over later with Lucas and Mike,” Max says, as Billy gets in the car.

Billy just catches her glaring at Dustin in the rearview mirror as Steve starts the car. They fall quiet for a minute, Max glaring, Dustin looking like he wants to argue.

“Fine,” Dustin finally huffs. Max settles in her seat with a pleased smile. Smart kid.

It’s not until they’re on their way to Steve's, Dustin dropped off at home despite his protests, that Billy fully registers what she'd said.

“So, what's going on later?” he asks, turning in his seat to look at her.

She offers a shrug. “We’re all meeting at Will's later. Nancy wanted you to come, so I told her we would all be there,” she says.

Billy scoffs, turning back around, and Max jabs him in the ribs.

“It's not like you have to hang out with us, Nancy and Jonathan will be there, and Steve,” she says.

Billy rolls his eyes. “Right, hanging out with Harrington and a bunch of dweeb kids on a Friday night, sounds like a fucking dream come true,” he says, oozing sarcasm.

He sees Max’s raised eyebrow in the rearview and flashes teeth.

“Oh blow me Hargrove. If I have to go, so do you,” Steve says, pulling into the driveway.

“Great, it's settled then. I’m gonna go get ready,” Max says, taking the keys and bolting for the house.

Billy shoots a glare in Steve’s direction, sees a syrup sweet smile on his face, and decides not to argue.

The phone is ringing when they walk in the house and Steve rushes to answer it, a weird look on his face as he ducks into another room to talk.

Billy shrugs out of his jacket and heads upstairs to change. He only has the clothes he’d shown up in and the clothes Steve had given him to sleep in, but he’d managed to get the blood out of his shirt, so he pulls the t-shirt off and slips his own over his shoulders, not bothering to button it as he heads downstairs and into the kitchen.

Steve is still on the phone, the cord stretched around the corner into a dark room, the door barely open. Billy grabs one of the snack cakes Steve seems to be so fond of and leans back against the counter, turning the sink on just because he knows Max is in the shower.

She swears and he smirks, turning the sink off again. Serves her right for acting like she knows shit about him.

Billy finishes his cake, Max finishes her shower, and Steve is still on the phone. His conversation is quiet enough that Billy can’t hear any of it, and he's half tempted to find the other line and listen in. But he reminds himself that it's none of his business who Steve talks to, and heads to the living room for his cigarettes.

Billy does up a few buttons to keep his shirt on, pulls his jacket back over his shoulders, and heads out the front door, a cigarette already between his lips.

He leans back against the garage door as he lights up and Steve joins him a few minutes later looking tense.

“My dad,” is all the explanation he offers. Billy nods in understanding.

“We can leave ya know. If we're gonna cause problems between you and your folks, we can go,” Billy says, taking a drag from his cigarette.

Steve turns to look at him. “What?” he asks, sounding genuinely confused.

Billy rolls his eyes, exhaling in a long puff of smoke. “Jesus Harrington. I’m just sayin’, if us being here is gonna be a problem we can go,” he repeats, eyes on the ground.

Steve scoffs next to him, stealing the cigarette. Billy peeks out of the corner of his eye as Steve takes a drag. “Who said there was gonna be a problem?” he asks. Billy sees the smirk on his face and can’t help a small smile.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. Their “overnight business trip" turned into a “quick weekend away" is now a “short vacation” because they just “missed New York so much",” Steve adds, the smirk slipping from his face.

Billy shuffles half a step closer, their shoulders pressed together, and tries to think of something to say that will help. He draws a blank, swallowing hard at the way their hands brush when Steve passes the cigarette back, and shrugs, trying not to embarrass himself. His fucking hands are shaking as he brings the cigarette up to his lips. Christ, he’s a goddamn mess.

The slamming of the front door snaps him out of his head.

“Are you ladies done? We have somewhere to be,” Max says, barely looking at them as she heads for the car.

Steve snorts a laugh. “You know, I thought her hanging out with the party was gonna be trouble, but that’s nothing compared to her and Nancy hanging out,” he says.

Billy huffs a laugh and drops the cigarette to the driveway. “Yeah, that just screams bad news,” he replies.

He'd seen the way they’d been whispering earlier, he knew it wasn’t a coincidence that this “party" had only been mentioned after they talked. Whatever they were planning couldn’t be good. Max was too damn observant on her own, adding Nancy to the mix made it down right dangerous.

“Which car are we taking?” Max yells, turning back towards them.

Steve shrugs, looking at Billy, and he’s close, too close. Billy grits his teeth and pushes off the garage door.

“Camaro,” he says. Because he needs to be in control of something tonight, even something as small as driving his own car.

Steve moves from the garage to lock the front door and Billy drops into the car.

Max is looking at him again, like she knows something, so Billy starts the car and cranks the music.

The ride is quiet aside from the music and Steve’s directions, and the closer they get to the house, the more Billy wants to turn around and go back.

He doesn’t have any business hanging around these fucking kids, they don’t even like him for Christ’s sake, and Nancy and Jonathan aren’t exactly his biggest fans either.

God this was a stupid idea. He shouldn’t have let Harrington talk him into this.

When they get to the house Billy pulls up the driveway and Max is bouncing in her seat in her rush to get out, she practically bolts to the front door the second Steve moves the seat out of her way.

Billy scoffs at her as she runs for the door and digs his cigarettes out of his pocket to light up, hoping to buy himself some more time before he has to go face this disaster. Of course, Steve notices his hesitancy, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets as he makes his way around the car to where Billy is leaning against the drivers side.

He stops in front of Billy and just looks, and Billy let’s that happen for maybe a minute before he looks up from the ground and fixes Steve with his best, “what the fuck do you want", look.

Steve scoffs, like he hadn’t been terrified of the very same look less than a week ago, and snatches the cigarette from Billy’s mouth. “You know this isn’t what I meant when I said you had to come tonight,” he says, taking a drag of the cigarette.

Billy glares hoping to get a rise out of him, his blood buzzing underneath his skin waiting for something. But Steve just keeps looking, raising an eyebrow. “What the fuck do I want to hang around some fucking kids for anyway?” he asks, the bite to his voice purposeful.

Steve rolls his eyes, like he can see right through Billy’s act. “They’re just kids Billy. Talk to them,” Steve tells him.

Billy flashes teeth, stealing the cigarette back and dropping his eyes to the ground. Just what he needs, a room full of people that fucking hate him, he can practically feel their stares already. “I hate to tell you Stevie, but it’s not gonna be much of a fucking party if they’re all watching my every move waiting for me to snap,” he spits.

Steve groans. “Get over yourself Billy. The only reason they’re tense around you in the first place is because you act like you fucking hate them. Just, talk to them,” he replies.

Billy nods, taking the last drag of his cigarette and dropping it to the ground. “Fine,” he says, blowing smoke in Steve’s face, just to be a dick. “But you owe me for this one Harrington,” he adds.

“Uh huh, sure, and what do I owe you exactly?” Steve asks.

Billy smirks, tongue between his teeth, and watches the blush creeping up from the base of Steve’s neck. “Oh, I’ll think of somethin',” he says, meeting Steve’s eyes.

They stand there for a minute, tension heavy in the air, before Billy pushes off the car and heads for the door, spinning his keys around his finger as he goes. He stops right before the door, turning to look back at Steve, still standing right where Billy left him.

“Well? Ya comin' or not pretty boy?” he says.

Steve drags a hand over his face and through his hair, muttering something under his breath as he walks towards Billy, and Billy laughs at the blush still on his face.

“Piss off,” Steve says, moving past Billy and through the front door.

Everyone falls silent when Billy follows him into the house, a couple of the kids stopping mid sentence to turn and stare at him.

Billy clenches his fists and shoves his hands in his pockets. “Oh yeah, this is a real fuckin' party,” he mutters.

Steve glances back at him, rolling his eyes before turning back towards the rest of the room. He opens his mouth to say something, closing it again when nothing comes out.

Billy scoffs a laugh when fucking Nancy of all people breaks the silence.

“I didn’t think you'd actually show up,” she says, beer in hand as she makes her way over to them. “Here, looks like you might need this,” she adds, handing one of the bottles off to Billy, who takes it and downs half of it in one go.

Steve shoots him another quick look as they follow Nancy into the kitchen, but he doesn’t say anything so Billy ignores it.

“So, this isn’t awkward at all,” Max says. Billy looks up just in time to catch her and Nancy exchanging some kind of look that he's sure means trouble.

Steve drops into a chair at the kitchen table, accepting the beer Jonathan passes him with a nod. Billy takes another drink. The silence is nearly suffocating, and he can feel the kids staring at him still. He starts peeling the label off his beer bottle as he moves to lean against the counter just for something to do with his hands.

He wishes someone would say something, anything really, as long as it gets the focus off of him.

The sound of a die skidding across the table when Nancy flicks it at Steve breaks the silence briefly, and Billy pulls himself up to sit on the counter.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Billy snaps at the kids, still standing in the kitchen, once he’s finally had it with the silence.

"W-what," one of them stammers. Dustin, the nerd Steve drives to school.

"You're staring kid. If you got a question, ask it," he says. The rest of the kids crowd up close to him, all talking at the same time, Max rolls her eyes and Billy does the same. 

"Did it hurt when you pierced your ear?" Dustin blurts, his face going red as the group around him starts arguing.

Billy scoffs a laugh. "A little. Next question," he says.

"Why do you wear that ring?" Nancy's brother asks, crossing his arms over his chest, looking over all unimpressed.

"So it hurts people more when I punch them," Billy replies.

"I knew it," the kid says under his breath, eyes wide.

"Why do you dress like that?" the Byers kid asks, quietly, almost like he doesn't want to be heard. 

Billy raises an eyebrow, hoping the kid will elaborate, and he just gestures to Billy's exposed chest. Billy pops his collar and smirks. "Well, I've gotta give the people of Hawkins something pretty to look at, now that king Steve here has let himself go," he says, shooting a teasing smirk Steve's way.

Nancy snorts a laugh that devolves into a fit of giggles, nearly spilling her beer, and the awkward feeling hanging in the air seems to dissipate.

Steve gives an indignant huff. "Excuse me, let myself go? Have you seen me? I'm gorgeous," he says, downing the last of his beer and running a hand through his hair.

"Tell that to the bags under your eyes," Billy replies, hoping his half teasing will cover the genuine concern he's feeling.

Steve drags his hand down his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm just tired," he mutters.

Billy, sure his concern must be showing on his face, decides to take the easy way out. "Pretty boy just needs a good, long, hard f-".

Steve's head snaps up so fast Billy is sure he pulls something. "Nap!" Steve yells, throwing the die Nancy had flicked at him at Billy. He catches it, laughing loud as Steve shoos the kids from the kitchen, insisting; "no more questions, go away,".

The kids take their time leaving the room, ignoring Steve’s bickering, and Jonathan stands from his seat to help Nancy clean up the beer she had spilled while laughing at Billy’s comment.

Steve is pouting, Billy notices, so he throws the die back at him, laughing when it bounces off Steve’s shoulder.

“What are you poutin’ for princess?” he asks, shooting a smirk Nancy’s way when she starts giggling again at the nickname.

Steve glares at him.

“What? You wanted me to talk to the brats, so I did,” Billy says.

Steve looks murderous. Well, as murderous as a pouting Steve Harrington can look.

“You know damn well that’s not what I meant,” Steve replies.

Billy smiles, all teeth, cause he knows that gets to Steve in the best way. “I was just answering their questions,” he insists, sliding down off the counter and pulling his keys out of his pocket. He doesn’t know how long they’re going to be here, but he figures one more beer couldn’t hurt.

Steve snags the edge of his jacket as he's walking towards the front door.

“Grab me one too,” he says, giving an over exaggerated pout when Billy raises an eyebrow.

Billy rolls his eyes and does his best to hide his smile. “Fine. Shit Harrington, you’re needy,” he says, smiling at Steve’s laughter as he walks out the door.

Billy has barely popped the trunk when he hears the door behind him open and close. He rolls his eyes, grabbing the beer and closing the trunk. "I've barely been gone two seconds, Jesus Harrington, you that desperate for it?" Billy teases, fully expecting to turn around and find Steve glaring at him. Instead he finds the Byers kid, his arms wrapped tight around himself and his face looking a little green.

"Did Steve send you out here?" Billy asks. The kid shakes his head no, not meeting Billy's eyes. Billy leans back against the trunk of the Camaro, the beer in one hand.

"Can I ask you something?" the kid says, barely a whisper, still not meeting Billy's eyes.

"Yeah kid, anything you want, shoot," Billy replies, following Steve's advice on being nicer to the kids.

The kid shifts on his feet, looking uncomfortable, and Billy pats the trunk of the car, motioning the kid over. He makes his way over slowly and settles against the car next to Billy. 

After a few more seconds of silence Billy is starting to get worried, the kid is looking greener by the second.

"You're not gonna hurl on me are ya?" Billy asks.

The kid shakes his head no, turning to finally meet Billy's eyes. "I-is it okay that I don't want to think about kissing girls?" he finally asks, stammering a bit, his face blossoming red to cover up the green.

Billy almost laughs, the kid is like, 14 for Christ's sake, he doesn't need to think about kissing girls; but Billy isn't an idiot, he's been hanging around long enough to see how Will looks at the Wheeler kid, he knows what the kid is really asking: "is it okay that I want to kiss boys,".

Billy wants to scream. This isn't his job, but he can see in the kids eyes that he's desperate.

Billy shifts, sits back on the Camaro and props his feet up on the bumper, resting his elbows on his knees. "Yeah kid, it's okay," Billy tells him, lowering his voice.

The kid blinks up at him, eyes unguarded. "Really?" he questions, and Billy's heart breaks for the kid, it really does.

"Yeah, course it is. I mean, not everybody thinks so, but that's their problem as far as I'm concerned," he says, shrugging.

The kid lets out a breath, like he'd been holding it, and leans further back against the Camaro. He's a little wide eyed now, like it's just now hitting him all over again, and Billy pops the top off his beer and knocks his arm against the kids shoulder, offering him the newly opened drink.

"Just a small drink. Can't have you goin' back in there wasted," he says.

The kid looks between Billy and the beer and back again, and Billy rolls his eyes and moves the beer closer to him.

"Well, c'mon kid, we don't got all day," he says.

The kid, with the barest hint of a smile, takes the beer from Billy and takes a drink, making a face as he hands it back. "That's disgusting, why do you drink that?" he asks.

Billy is laughing as he takes the beer back, and he shrugs. "You get used to it," he says.

They fall into an odd sort of silence, that's broken by the kid pushing off the Camaro and heading for the house, mumbling something like; "better get back in there".

"Hey, why'd you ask me, out of everyone else?" Billy asks, trying not to sound as nervous as he is.

The kid stops and turns, shrugging his shoulders. "Your pin. I saw it in the newspaper once," he says, pointing vaguely at the pin hidden on the inside collar of Billy's jacket.

Billy huffs a laugh; "Figures. Ya know, you're the first one to notice it". 

He sets the beer down next to him and unhooks the pin from his jacket, motioning the kid forward so he can pin it on his jacket. "You keep this, and if anybody gives you trouble about it you let me know, and I'll kick their ass," Billy says, ruffling a hand through the kids hair and sliding down off the Camaro.

"Now come on, before they come looking for us," he says. The kid stops him when they get to the porch.

"Thanks Billy," he says, quietly.

Billy smiles; "Anytime kid," he says, following the kid in the house.

Jane is right there waiting as soon as they step in the house, looking curiously between them.

“Is everything okay?” she asks.

Will nods but she keeps her eyes on him, unconvinced.

Billy sees when she notices the pin, brushing her fingers over it and smiling at Billy like she knows.

“Pretty,” she says, still smiling.

Her and Will share a look that has Will tearing up and she pulls him into a hug before turning and hugging Billy.

Billy is a bit surprised but he returns the hug, however awkwardly.

“Will, come on, what's taking so long,” one of the kids yells from Wills room.

“You better go,” Billy says.

"It's about time Hargrove, Jesus," Steve yells from the kitchen.

Billy rolls his eyes and Will takes off laughing towards his room.

"Keep your panties on princess, beer’s comin'," Billy yells back, walking into the kitchen.

“You hang out with Steve a lot,” Jane says, matter-of-fact, leaning against the side of the house next to Billy.

They decided at some point to take the party outside, started a fire and everything. Billy has never felt like more of a hick.

He shrugs and takes a drag of his cigarette, hoping he wasn't caught staring. “Yeah, I guess. We're friends,” he tells her.

She's quiet, and Billy assumes that's the end of their conversation, taking another drag of his cigarette and glancing back over at Steve.

“Not just friends,” she says after a bit.

Billy chokes on his lungful of smoke, glancing down to find her looking at him with a small smile on her face.

Billy barely has time to process what she's said before Steve is right there, stupid smirk on his face, snatching the cigarette from Billy's fingers.

“Choking, really? Christ Hargrove, you'd think it was your first time,” he says teasing lilt to his voice.

Billy makes a face at him as he saunters back towards Nancy and Jonathan. “Eat me Harrington,” Billy yells after him, flipping him off for good measure.

Steve, thinking he's real fuckin' cute apparently, holds the cigarette between his lips and clasps both hands over his heart, shooting a wink in Billy's direction before turning   
around and going back to his conversation.

Billy scoffs to himself, rolling his eyes and when he turns back to look at Jane she has a huge smile on her face and Will is grinning next to her.

The rest of the night goes by easy, like it had never been awkward in the first place, and Steve isn’t even trying to hide the smug look on his face as they walk to the car.

Billy rolls his eyes, but he can’t help the smile on his face. “Christ Harrington, will you just say “I told you so" already and get it over with,” he says, leaning back against the hood of his car and lighting a cigarette.

“I told you so,” Steve says, stopping in front of Billy, his hands in his pockets, smug look still on his face. “You should listen to me more often Hargrove, I’m usually right,” he adds.

“Eat me,” Billy replies, offering Steve the cigarette. He means for it to come out with a little bite, but he’s still fucking smiling, so that ruins the effect.

Steve takes the cigarette, his smug look dropping to a genuine smile. “Admit it, you had fun,” he says, putting the cigarette between his lips.

Billy wishes he hadn’t given it up, just so he’d have an excuse not to answer. He shrugs. “Yeah, alright, I had a little fun. But don’t expect me to start spending every Friday hanging out with you and the geeks, I still have a social life,” he says, eyes on the ground.

Steve rolls his eyes, exhaling smoke as he hands the cigarette back to Billy. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Hargrove,” he replies.

Billy looks up to meet Steve’s eyes as he takes the cigarette, puts it between his lips without breaking eye contact, and smirks at the blush blooming across Steve’s cheekbones.

They both jump when a horn honks and Billy whips around to glare at where Max is leaning over the seat, a smug smirk on her face. He drops the last of his cigarette in the driveway and stomps it out. He hadn’t even noticed her walking past them.

Max is laughing when Billy drops into his seat and he glares daggers at her through the rearview mirror “Yeah, laugh it up twerp, you’re lucky I don’t kick your ass,” he growls, and now Steve is laughing at him too, great.

“Hey, you two wanna walk home?” he asks, turning to look at Steve again as he starts the car, raising an eyebrow when he just keeps laughing. “Keep laughing Stevie, don’t think I won’t throw your cute ass out,” Billy tells him smiling, all teeth, when Steve’s laugh dies in his throat.

That sets Max off all over again, and Billy joins her, laughing as he backs down the driveway and takes off down the road.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DON'T MEAN TO KEEP DOING THIS!! HOW DOES THREE CHAPTERS SOUND?? I'M GONNA POST THREE CHAPTERS AND TRY NOT TO MISS THE NEXT UPLOAD!

“He’s still wearing your shirt,” Nancy says, joining him on the bleachers.

“And?” Steve asks, un-lit cigarette between his lips, lighter in hand.

She raises her eyebrows and shrugs, but she can’t stop the smile, though Steve can tell she’s trying.

“Shut up Nance, it’s not like that,” he says, glaring as her smile grows.

“What’s it like then?” she asks. Steve groans, cigarette forgotten, and she laughs at him. “Come on Steve, give me something. What the hell was that in the cafeteria Friday? And that night at Jonathan's?” she questions.

“Nancy, I will pay you to talk about literally anything else,” he says, practically begging.

She huffs, clearly annoyed, and looks ready to argue. They spend a few tense moments in silence. “Fine. There's a party tonight, I’m going with Tommy and Carol, you should come,” she finally says.

Steve breathes a sigh of relief. Sure, he doesn’t want to go to some party, but it got her to drop the Billy subject.

“Yeah, sure, fine. But I need a ride,” he says, tucking his cigarette behind his ear and tucking his lighter into his pocket.

“What about Billy?” she asks, carefully nonchalant, but still not at all subtle.

Steve glares. “Work,” he tells her. She makes a face. “We're not talking about it Nancy, remember?” he says, meeting her eyes.

“I just want to know what that thing in the cafeteria was about,” she says.

Steve groans again, standing up to pace the length of the beam below where she’s sitting. “Honestly Nance, so do I, because I have no idea. So you know what, your guess is as good as mine,” he tells her.

She opens her mouth to speak but he stops her before she can say anything. “I don’t want to hear your guesses, Nance. I want this conversation to be over,” he says.

She huffs again, glaring, pouting when that doesn’t work, and finally rolling her eyes, miming locking her lips and throwing away the key.

“Thank you,” he says, though he’s sure this isn’t the last he’ll hear about it. “Now, I’ll see you tonight,” he adds, stepping down from the bleachers and heading towards the cafeteria.

She follows him. “Yeah, we'll stop and pick you up,” she tells him, looking like maybe she wants to say something else.

Steve leaves before she can, giving her a nod and a wave as they part ways and heading for his locker, already dreading the upcoming party.

Steve doesn’t recognize the house when they pull up to the party that night, but he knows the crowd. 

They’re barely in the door five minutes and Steve already has a drink in his hand and six different people offering him drugs.

Maybe this party won’t be hell after all.

A few pills and many, many drinks later Steve finds himself half asleep on the couch next to Nancy.

He drops his head onto the back of the couch and lets it fall until his forehead is resting against Nancy’s arm.

She looks down at him, a crease between her brows. “What’s wrong?” she asks.

He blinks slow and bites the inside of his cheek. “I lied to you,” he finally admits, voice barely audible over the noise from the party.

The crease between her brows deepens. “About what?” she asks.

He takes his time answering, rubbing his thumbnail against his jeans and chewing at the inside of his cheek some more. “Billy,” he eventually says.

She stays quiet, waiting for him to explain.

“You asked about what happened in the cafeteria and I told you I didn’t know what it was about, but I do,” he adds, moving his attention to the pattern on the couch so he won’t have to meet her eyes.

“He’s sweet Nance. I don’t think it was about anything really, he's just sweet,” he says.

Nancy snorts a laugh. “Billy Hargrove is **not** sweet, not unless he wants something,” she says.

“He's sweet to me,” he tells her.

She smiles at him. “Is he now?” she questions.

Steve feels a smile taking over his own face as he nods. “Real sweet,” he tells her.

She laughs. “Alright, I'm gonna go get you some water. You wait right here,” she tells him, waiting for him to nod before she stands up and heads for the kitchen.

Nancy has barely walked away when somebody approaches him. Some guy that looks vaguely familiar, but not familiar enough that Steve can place him.

“Hey,” the guy says, and Steve smirks when he sees the guy checking him out.

“Hey,” Steve replies.

“You wanna get out of here?” the guy asks.

Steve smiles wider, he's just the right amount of high to consider the offer, but he shakes his head anyway. “Nah, I’m actually here with someone,” he says, gesturing behind himself at where Nancy is in the kitchen.

The guys eyes shift briefly to the right before they’re back on Steve. His smile drops into a disappointed pout. “Damn, that’s too bad,” he says, a small smirk returning to his face. “How about a dance then?” he asks. “Just one, I’ll have you back before your friend even misses you,” he adds, before Steve can argue.

Steve purses his lips slightly. He really should say no, Nancy will throw a fit if he’s not exactly where she left him when she gets back. But, he wants to say yes. He’s been feeling pretty shitty about himself lately, dancing with someone who wants him might be just what he needs.

Steve turns towards the kitchen, finds Nancy talking to a group of girls gathered around the snacks, and smiles as he turns back around.

“Looks like it's your lucky night, my friend found someone else to talk to, so I’m all yours,” he says.

The guy smiles as he gives Steve a hand up, not shy about getting in his personal space. “Lucky me,” he comments, leading Steve towards the crowd of people dancing.

One dance, leads to another, and another, the guy slipping him a pill somewhere between dance two and three, and he just catches Nancy's worried look out of the corner of his eye; she'd started hovering off to the right of them somewhere around dance two, but at the moment, Steve doesn't care, he just lets the guy pull him closer, closes his eyes, and gets lost in the music.

Steve doesn't know how long they've been dancing, the pill had kicked in at some point and, slowly, one song had just melded into the next until he was no longer certain where one song ended and the next began. He'd lost sight of Nancy a while ago, after that it was easy to let everything else melt away, until all he knew was the guy in front of him and the steady beat of the music in his ears. For a while, everything is fine, then Steve feels someone come up behind him and his whole body goes tense.

“Relax, he’s a friend,” the guy is quick to reassure. “He's had his eye on you all night,” he adds, cupping Steve's jaw with one hand.

Steve almost smiles, because it's nice to feel wanted, but then the other guys hands slide down from Steve's hips, stopping high on the inside of Steve's thighs, and he starts to panic.

“I-I think I should get back,” Steve says, speaking up to be heard over the music. The guys don't budge.

“Oh come on, so soon? We've only just started,” the guy in front of him says, a slow smile creeping onto his face.

“I really should go, my friend will be worried,” Steve repeats, eyes scanning the room desperately in search of Nancy, Tommy, Carol, fuck, anybody at this point.

The guy in front of him looks back towards the couch where Steve and Nancy had been sitting, then towards the kitchen, then back at Steve. “I don't see her anywhere,” he says, something in his tone making Steve's blood go cold.

The guy behind him tightens his hands on Steve's thighs and nuzzles closer to whisper in his ear, “Let's get out of here, yeah? We'll show you a real good time”.

Steve slams his eyes shut, he's an idiot, how did he get himself into this mess? How does he always manage to get himself into these messes.

He's startled from his thoughts by a small commotion, the guy in front of him being ripped away. He's almost scared to look, but when he opens his eyes the guy is on the ground, his hand cupped over his nose, blood pouring between his fingers. He feels the guy behind him go tense.

“You’ve got two seconds,” a familiar voice growls, and Steve looks up from the guy groaning on the floor to see Billy, more pissed than Steve has ever seen him, with blood on his knuckles and his eyes fixed on the guy still behind Steve.

God, he's never been fucking happier to see Billy than he is right now.

The guy behind him doesn't relax, but he doesn't pull away either, he simply digs around in his pocket until he finds a money clip and offers it to Billy without bothering to count the bills.

“I think this will more than pay for the night,” the guy says, his voice surprisingly steady despite the tremor Steve can feel running through his body.

Steve sees the way Billy's eyes go dark as he stalks forward, taking the money from the guy and grabbing his hand before he can pull it back.

“He ain't for sale,” Billy spits, sounding dangerous even to Steve, as he gives the guys wrist a quick twist, dropping it when Steve hears a loud “pop”.

The guy jerks back, cursing and cradling his wrist, and Billy stalks closer, jabbing a finger into the guy's chest.

“You or your buddies ever fucking touch him again, you're gonna end up with a lot worse than a dislocated wrist,” Billy warns, still glaring even as the guy turns and runs.

Steve doesn't take his eyes off Billy, watches as he clenches his jaw and closes his eyes, his hands in tight fists as he takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself down.

He doesn't know what to do, Nancy is the only one who's ever really bothered to stick up for him like that, and that thought alone is enough to bring tears to his eyes.

He must look like a mess because when Billy opens his eyes he takes in a small breath and takes a quick step forward.

Any other time Steve would panic and flinch away. A guy coming at him that fast is never good, and anybody else would tell you that Billy Hargrove is the worst guy you could have coming at you, but Steve knows better, and that combined with the drugs in his system and the adrenaline coursing through his veins makes him practically collapse into Billy’s arms, his chest heaving with the effort of getting air into his lungs.

He’s shaking, he knows he is, the adrenaline and the panic guarantee that much, but Billy just shushes him gently and tries to reassure him that he’s okay.

The cold air from outside is a welcomed comfort, and getting away from the music helps more than it hurts. Billy’s hands on him is also a decent perk.

“Steve, hey, it's okay now,” Billy says, his voice low. “Stevie, baby, look at me,” he says when Steve doesn’t answer, his hands, impossibly gentle, on Steve’s face now.

Steve blinks his eyes open to look at him and Billy offers a grateful smile.

“You’re okay Steve, I got you,” he says.

Steve collapses into him again, not really crying anymore, just letting himself be held, and Billy wraps an arm around his waist.

“Is he okay?” Steve hears after a few minutes, not bothering to move seeing as Nancy isn’t talking to him anyway.

“Yeah, he’s alright. A little shook up, but he'll be fine,” Billy replies, and Steve can feel the rumble of Billy’s voice through his entire body. “Thanks for callin' me,” he adds after a few seconds.

“Thanks for coming,” Nancy replies.

Steve would second that, but he’s pretty sure he’s falling asleep standing up. He knows he’s falling asleep a few seconds later when his knees almost give way underneath him, the only thing really keeping him up being Billy’s arm around his waist.

“Alright, I should really get him home. You need a ride?” Billy asks, starting towards the Camaro.

“Yeah actually, if you don’t mind. I was gonna have Jonathan pick me up from here, but, he can pick me up from Steve’s instead,” Nancy replies, following behind them.

Steve is conscious enough to help Billy get him in the car, but that’s about it, Billy hooks the seatbelt around him and shuts the door and Steve slumps over practically asleep already.

He wakes up a few times, hearing snippets of conversations between the people in the car, at one point he opens his eyes to find Max looking at him, clearly concerned, but Billy quickly barks at her to, “get the fuck out of his face Max, Jesus,” and he falls asleep again after that.

The next time he wakes up they’re in his driveway and Billy is stooped over trying to help him out of the car.

“Christ, Max, he'll be fine, just open the fucking door so I can get him inside,” Billy says.

The rush of cold air wakes Steve up enough that he can help get himself out of the car and up the stairs into the house but he takes one look at the stairs up to his room and groans, closing his eyes and letting his knees go weak underneath himself.

Billy scoffs at his dramatics and leads him to the couch, helping him lay himself down, the girls following them in the house.

He hears Max head up the stairs, doors opening and closing, Billy turning the sink on and off in the kitchen, and then he’s being roused again, whining as Billy makes him sit up and drink a full glass of water.

Billy rolls his eyes at Steve's whining, reaching down to cup his face and rubbing his thumb along Steve’s jaw.

Steve damn near chokes on his water.

“Trust me princess, you’ll be thanking me tomorrow,” Billy tells him, pulling his hand back to take the now empty cup from Steve.

“If he even remembers this tomorrow,” Max quips.

Somewhere amidst his whining, and mooning over Billy, Steve must have missed her coming back downstairs.

He thinks about arguing, but then she's handing him his pillow and Billy is laying him back down and tucking a blanket around him, and his argument dies in his throat as he gets comfortable.

“Go to bed Maxine, it’s late,” Billy says after a minute.

“What does it look like I’m doing William,” she shoots back, Steve opens his eyes just long enough to see her getting comfortable on the other couch.

Billy scoffs again but leaves her be and drops down into the empty space at the end of Steve’s couch, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table.

Billy’s hand on his ankle makes a weird sort of electricity shoot through his body, but he’s too tired to think about it, so he just stretches out until he's touching Billy's thigh and goes back to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A slightly longer one again. And, listen, don't @us about the whole "emotion" thing, we argued about this A LOT; our editor AND out beta-reader told us to leave it alone, so, we did.

Billy wakes up slumped over on the couch, a hand in his hair and something pressed against his chest.

Everything from last night comes rushing back as he lays there, those jackasses from the party, the way Steve broke down when Billy got there. He’s getting pissed off just thinking about it, and knowing that hadn’t been the first time it had happened only makes him angrier. The last time he’d helped Steve out of a situation like that it had been a lot worse, he's glad Nancy called when she did.

Billy blinks his eyes open, his brow furrowed, and is greeted by the sight of Steve’s ass, finding that he’s practically using it as a pillow, and Steve’s legs against his chest.

Steve looks relaxed, which is nice compared to last night; and he really can't complain about Steve's ass, it looks much better up close.

There's a crash from the other room and Billy is dragged back to reality when Steve jumps, startled awake by the noise, and hits Billy in the face with his knee.

He and Steve lock eyes, and Billy gets lost for a minute in the deep, rich brown.

“What was that?” Steve asks, his voice rough.

Billy shrugs and sits up, trying to shake whatever the hell he's feeling. “Probably Maxine,” he says.

Steve’s reply is cut off by Max yelling; “I told you to stop calling me that _William,_ ” as she walks into the room.

Steve speaks up before Billy can. “Please don’t. Just-it's too early for arguing,” he pleads, and when Billy looks over at him he’s holding his head in his hands.

He’s definitely hung over, and with all the drugs he’d taken last night Billy wouldn’t be surprised if he’d cross faded.

Billy puts a comforting hand on Steve’s thigh, a spark of electricity shooting up his arm when he does. He swallows hard when Steve looks up at him, and opens his mouth to say something, noticing his hand might be a little too high on Steve’s thigh to be considered strictly _friendly_. But he can’t get anything out and when he looks away, because he **has** to look away, he sees Max’s eyes go wide.

He tries to catch her eyes, to let her know not to say anything, but he's too late.

“What’s going on between you two?” she blurts.

“Nothing,” Steve and Billy both say, panicking and talking over each other.

He meets Steve’s eyes again and he can tell they’re thinking the same thing; they need to talk, and soon.

He looks away, moving his hand from Steve’s thigh to drag it through his hair and clearing his throat.   
“Hey Max, you’re hanging out with the bratbusters today, right? What time?” he asks.

She gives him a look, one that lets him know she knows he’s trying to change the subject, and she’s gonna let him get away with it for now.

She crosses her arms over her chest, her eyes narrowed as she continues looking at them. “Yeah, at four. I was making food for Steve to try and bribe him into taking me, but by the looks of him, he can’t. So, Billy?” she replies.

He doesn’t get a chance to answer her before Steve is saying yes for him, and when Billy glances over at him his eyes are wide.

“Great, I’m gonna start getting ready. Food’s in the kitchen,” she calls, taking off up the stairs.

After a few seconds of awkward silence Billy gets up and heads to the kitchen, taking Steve some food before heading upstairs to shower and change.

Steve is sleeping when Billy gets back downstairs, so he heads into clean up the kitchen, since Max had made a huge mess, and then outside to have a smoke.

He’s fucked. Max had seen too much, and she was too damn intuitive. If she didn’t already know about, whatever the fuck they’re doing, she would soon. Though, judging by her pointed looks, she probably knew before either of them had it figured out.

He'd be lying through his teeth if he said that thought didn’t scare him, but all he can really do about it at this point is hope she’s smart enough not to tell anybody.

Billy curses, dropping his cigarette butt to the ground and stomping it out a little harder than necessary.

He's fucked. All it would take is one slip up from Max, one word to the wrong fucking person, and Billy is done for.

He clenches his fists, itching to hit something.

It's not like he can talk to her about it, that would just be adding to what she can use against him. _Fuck_ , he hates that his only real option is to trust her with this.

She's waiting for him when he gets back in the house, leaning over the back of the couch slightly, a pinched look on her face.

“Is he gonna be okay?” she asks, as Billy heads to the door.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine, just needs to sleep it off,” Billy replies, pulling his jacket on. “Now let’s go, I don’t want those dweebs bitching to me if you’re late,” he adds, holding the door for her, locking it on his way out.

The ride is quiet, which is definitely not what Billy expected. She keeps giving him this _look_ , like she’s waiting for him to say something, but she only speaks up once, to let him know he needs to pick Dustin up.

Dustin breaks the silence, talking about anything and everything. Billy thinks about kicking him out and making him walk the rest of the way, but he doesn’t, and once Dustin catches on to the looks Max keeps giving Billy, even he shuts up.

He drops them off an hour out, at some abandoned school bus in the middle of nowhere, and the only thing that keeps him from asking questions is Jane.

She comes running up to his car as soon as he stops and he rolls down his window, already smiling.

“Hey kid, what’s up?” he asks, as Max and Dustin get out.

“Hi Billy,” she replies, bouncing in place as she reaches up to push her hair out of the way. “Look,” she says, gesturing to her freshly pierced ears.

Billy smiles wider, her excitement contagious. “No shit. Who did that?” he asks.

“Joyce. Nancy gave me earrings,” she answers. “Now mine are pretty like yours,” she adds.

Billy laughs. “Yeah they are,” he agrees.

“Jane, come on,” Mike calls, sticking his head out of one of the windows of the bus.

Jane rolls her eyes and Billy laughs again.

“Alright, I gotta go anyway. Keep um outta trouble for me, yeah?” Billy says.

Jane, still smiling, nods and takes off towards the bus.

“I’ll be back at eight, you assholes better be here,” Billy yells, meeting Max’s eyes before rolling his window up and heading back the way he came.

He misses the silence on the way back, now that he’s alone he can’t stop thinking about the fucking talk they have to have.

It's fucking with his head, not knowing what Steve is gonna say, not knowing how this is gonna go.

He immediately goes to the worst case scenario. Because there's no way this is gonna work out in his favor, there’s no way Steve is gonna let him stick around. And he’d realized too late just how much Steve telling him to get lost is gonna hurt him.

**Fuck**. He'd really fucked himself over with this one. There's no way he’s getting out of this one unscathed.

He’s practically choking on nerves by the time he pulls in the driveway, his fucking hands are shaking with it.

As nervous as he is though, Billy doesn’t want to drag their talk out anymore than he already has, so he heads straight for the back door as soon as he parks in the driveway.

Steve is sitting up on the couch when Billy gets in the house, staring down at a notebook that’s open in his lap. Billy opens his mouth to say something, but his words die in his throat when he sees Steve wipe a tear off his face.

Billy freezes in place, because Steve's crying, **again** , and Billy can’t help but feel responsible.

They’ve been getting closer, things have been going alright, so **of course** he’d fucked it up. He'd gotten too greedy, tried to do too much too fast. Whatever it was, Steve is crying, and it's Billy’s fault.

He makes his way into the living room carefully, trying his best not to startle Steve, and drops down onto the coffee table in front of the couch.

Steve meets his eyes, and it looks like he wants to say something, but he can’t get any word out past the sobs.

Billy leans forward, putting one hand on Steve’s thigh and the other on the back of his neck, resting their foreheads together.

“It's alright Stevie, it'll be alright,” Billy murmurs, practically cooing, shifting slightly when Steve leans further into him, sobbing harder.

Billy just holds him tighter, letting him shift until his face is tucked into the crook of Billy’s neck.

“That’s right babe, just let it out,” he soothes, hugging tighter still as the sobs only worsen.

The tears don’t seem like they’re gonna let up anytime soon, but Billy will be here until they do. He's not sure what this means in relation to the talk they need to have, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn’t terrified right now, but he's not going anywhere. He'll be here as long as Steve needs him.

It's hours before the sobs quiet, every muscle in his body aches, but he doesn’t let up until Steve pulls away, and even then he stays close.

Steve sits back on the couch and wipes the tears off his face as well as he can.

“You okay Stevie?” Billy asks, his voice low.

Steve sniffles and looks up at Billy from under wet eyelashes. “What are we doing Billy?” he asks, his voice rough from crying.

Billy meets his eyes, but all he can offer is a halfhearted smile.

Steve leans down to retrieve the notebook that had fallen off his lap, adds a few things to the page, and passes it over to Billy, who accepts it with a curious look.

He glances down at the page briefly before darting his eyes back up to meet Steve’s.

“What’s this?” he asks, amazed he can even get that much out.

Steve drops his eyes and shrugs, color springing up over his cheeks. “What’s it look like?” he replies, in lieu of an answer.

Billy looks back down at the notebook. The page is split down the middle in pen, the two columns titled; Pros and Cons, a short list under each one.

_“Pros: protective, good looking, good with the kids, means I won’t be lonely, patient, calls me cute nicknames"._

_“Cons: anger issues, jealousy, pushes people away, too good to be true”._

Billy knows what it is. Well, he knows what it _looks_ like. But he can’t wrap his head around it, he can’t fathom Steve taking the time to do this. Weighing his “pros and cons” like Billy actually has anything to offer.

The fact that Steve thinks Billy’s “too good to be true” leaves him reeling, unable to form words.

Steve tolerates the silence for maybe a minute before getting up to leave.

Billy follows him up, grabbing his arm and pulling him into a hug before he can walk away.

“I don’t know what we're doing right now either; but I know it’s good, and I know it feels right. So, how ‘bout we take it slow, figure it out together, and see where it goes?” Billy says, despite the nerves tightening his throat.

Steve waits a beat, takes a shaky inhale, and nods against Billy’s collarbone.

Billy feels himself relax at that. **Steve** wants **him**. Steve actually wants him, despite everything else. Talk about too good to be true.

They stand for a while in blissful silence before Billy notices the time.

“I gotta go get the brats,” Billy sighs, wanting, more than anything, to stay right where he is. Fuck the kids, they can walk back.

Steve nods again and takes a reluctant step back, reaching into the pocket of his jeans.

“Here. Keep it, so you can get in whenever,” Steve says, dropping a key into the palm of Billy’s hand.

Billy smirks down at it before tucking it into his pocket and leaning in to press a kiss to Steve’s temple.

“I’ll be back,” Billy tells him, feeling like he’s flying as he heads out the door.

It's late when they get back, well past midnight since Billy spent half the night looking for the brats and the other half driving them all home.

In the end he'd ended up with Max, who is currently pouting for being brought home, and Dustin, because when he stopped to drop the kid at home he had whined about how he’d _“already told his mom he’d be at Steve’s all night,”_. Billy obliges, strictly to keep the kid from whining more, and twenty minutes later he’s parking in front of the house and sliding himself out of the Camaro.

Dustin goes a little wide eyed when Billy pulls out a spare key, but Max elbows him and he drops his eyes, Billy still hears his quiet _“what the fuck"_ though.

He physically recoils when he opens the door and is met by every light in the house on, music blaring from the radio, and the TV up as loud as it can go.

Dustin pushes past him into the house, switching the TV off before moving to the radio and doing the same, a bored expression on his face the whole time like nothing is out of the ordinary.

Max stops just inside the door, right next to Billy, her bratty façade dropping as she takes in the chaos.

Dustin returns from the kitchen, pudding cup in hand, turning the lights off behind him and dropping down onto the couch.

Max exchanges a look with Billy that he can’t help but silently agree with as he crosses his arms and looks at Dustin expectantly, when the kid doesn’t immediately notice Billy clears his throat.

Dustin turns to look at him, spoon hanging out of his mouth, and pulls a face. “What?” he asks, garbled by the spoon in his mouth.

Billy actually scoffs at that.

“Really Dustin? You’re not going to explain this?” Max says.

Dustin rolls his eyes, collapsing back into the couch like explaining is a great inconvenience for him. “He doesn’t like being alone,” is all he offers, but it breaks Billy’s heart just the same.

Max shrugs, attitude returning, and stomps up the stairs, though Billy notices she doesn’t slam the door like she usually would.

Dustin shakes his head, giving Billy an exasperated look. “Women,” he sighs, like he fucking knows anything. Billy just rolls his eyes and makes his way upstairs.

He stops as he’s passing Steve’s room, his eyes drawn to the door without much choice on his part. He takes a few slow steps forward, reaching out towards the door, only stopping when he hears Dustin downstairs.

He’s right outside Steve's door now, outstretched hand nearly at the doorknob, and he has to stop and take a breath.

What in the hell is he doing? It's late, Steve’s sleeping, he needs to be sleeping, and who is Billy to check up on him anyway. But he can’t help himself, he knocks as lightly as he can, hoping not to wake Steve up if he is sleeping, and after a minute of no response he quietly opens the door and peeks in.

Steve is curled up in the middle of his mattress, a pillow clutched to his chest, with every light in the room on. Billy shakes his head slightly, reaching in to flick the overhead light off, and stands for a minute in the doorway just looking at Steve.

He really only stands there for a minute, just until he starts feeling like a creep, then he quietly shuts the door and steps away, turning around to find Max leaning in the doorway of her room with her arms crossed over her chest.

He actually flinches back in surprise, bringing his hand up to his chest. “Jesus Christ Max,” he says, trying not to yell.

She looks unimpressed, raising an eyebrow at him. “You were being a creep,” she tells him, pointing out the obvious, somehow sounding bored and smug at the same time.

“I was just checkin' on him,” he argues, sounding weak even to his own ears.

She doesn’t say anything right away, just stands there and looks at him in that way that women do when they’re figuring you out, it makes him antsy. For a second it looks like she’s going to say something, but apparently she changes her mind, because she just shakes her head at him and goes quietly back to her room.

Her silence leaves him too keyed up to sleep, so he retreats back downstairs and out the back door to smoke, just to try and calm himself down.

The look Max gave him worries him more than he wants to admit, because he knows how smart Max is, and he knows what she saw the night of the party, how she could add up all those single instances into something Billy doesn’t want her to know.

He smokes two cigarettes in his attempt to calm his mind, heading back inside after the second one is out when it doesn’t help as much as he was hoping it would.

Dustin is passed out on the couch, snoring loudly, when Billy gets back inside, and he rolls his eyes as he locks the back door behind him and moves quietly through the kitchen.

He’s startled for the third time in a row when he exits the kitchen and finds Steve at the bottom of the stairs.

He’s sitting with his elbows on his knees and his head hanging down, his eyes are closed so he doesn’t notice when Billy enters the room, and Billy stays quiet to keep it that way, leaning against the archway so he can watch.

Steve doesn’t move much, just sits, listening, taking deep breaths.

_“You’re being a creep,”_ he hears Max's voice in his head, it gets him amped up again and he shifts in place.

“Steve?” he says, keeping his voice as soft as he can.

It doesn’t help, Steve jumps anyway, his head snapping up, his eyes wide.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, I just-. What are you doing up?” Billy asks.

Steve takes a second to respond, his body relaxing as he calms, leaving him mostly slumped over on the stairs. He shrugs; “I heard somebody down here and came to check, hadn’t made it back up yet,” he says, not meeting Billy’s eyes.

Billy wouldn’t exactly call it a lie, but he can tell there’s something Steve isn’t telling him.

_“He doesn’t like being alone,”_ flashes in his head like a glaring neon sign.

“C'mon, it’s late, you should go back to bed,” Billy says, surprised when Steve lets him pull him up from his spot and lead him up the stairs. If he notices Steve leaning into the touch, he tells himself he’s imagining it and keeps going.

He stops at Steve’s open door, not willing to invade a space he hasn’t been invited into, and Steve continues into the dimly lit room, dropping down onto the bed and curling back around his pillow.

Billy waits till he gets comfortable, then moves to pull the door shut and return to his own room, but Steve’s low voice stops him.

“Will you stay,” he asks, so quiet Billy isn’t sure he was meant to hear, but when he looks up and meets Steve’s eyes he sees the plea there.

He takes a deep breath, enters the room, sure to push the door closed behind him, and makes his way over to the bed. Steve scoots back, moving to take up one side of the bed instead of both, and Billy drops down into the empty space he’s made.

They’re quiet for a while, nothing but breathing and the low sounds from outside Steve’s open window, Billy is almost certain Steve has fallen asleep until he feels Steve’s hand nudge against his own.

He turns his hand, palm up, without even having to think about it, letting Steve lace their fingers together over the blankets between them.

“Thank you,” he says softly, a slight tremor in his voice. Billy runs his thumb over Steve’s knuckles, feeling the tension slowly ease away as he falls asleep.

“Goodnight Steve,” he whispers to the air between them, tucking his free arm under his head and closing his eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANOTHER!! This one is much longer, and there's more emotion, AND my lovely co-author calls the beginning "saucy", so, there's that. Enjoy, I'll try not to miss the next upload, but I'm past promising anything...

_Steve splashes some water on his face, hanging his head as he leans over the sink. He has to get this under control, the nightmares are ridiculous. His head snaps up when the door behind him opens, and he meets Billy’s eyes in the mirror._

_Something hot chases through his veins as he flashes back to that night so long ago now, the night that started all of this._

_Billy steps further into the room, closing the door behind himself. Steve hears the lock click and his breath hitches, but Billy just keeps getting closer._

_“Do you trust me?” he asks, his voice loud in the quiet of Steve’s bathroom, even though he’s whispering._

_Steve nods immediately, he doesn’t even have to think about it, he briefly zones out thinking about when the hell that happened, how he'd gone from panicking if Billy so much as caught his eye, to trusting him blindly._

_Billy moves again and it pulls Steve out of his thoughts, because when he moves this time he closes the distance between them fully, easing Steve up and back until he’s leaning against Billy’s bare chest. Billy hooks his chin over Steve’s shoulder, his arms around Steve’s waist, and waits for Steve to relax._

_He doesn’t drop eye contact, neither one of them do, and Steve slowly feels the tension in his muscles easing. Billy holds eye contact as he moves his hands to Steve’s hips and up, massaging small points of tension as he goes, before dragging his hands back down to land solidly on Steve’s hips._

_Steve jumps at the first skin on skin contact, Billy’s fingertips grazing just under the hem of Steve’s t-shirt._

_“Is this okay?” he asks. Steve shivers when Billy’s breath ghosts across his skin and nods quickly._

_With Steve’s permission Billy edges Steve’s shirt up, one hand easing it’s way up to Steve’s ribs and back down in a circular motion. Goosebumps break out across Steve’s skin, his face going red, his eyes going dark._

_He's surprised to find that he wants this, Billy touching him, that he wants more. The hand Billy has on his hip drops to tease just under the hem of Steve's sweats, like he read Steve's mind, and Steve stops breathing._

_It doesn't take a mind reader to see that he's hard, that much is obvious, but, they've never done this before. They've never done anything like this before._

_Behind him Billy swipes his tongue over his bottom lip, eyes dropping briefly before locking on Steve's again. Steve swallows hard at the blatant want he sees._

_“Still okay?” he asks, barely audible._

_Steve nods, almost frantically, too far gone to care how desperate he's acting._

_Billy shakes his head slightly and Steve panics, wraps his hands around Billy's wrists to keep him from pulling away. He can't stop now, Steve doesn't want him to, he wants this, has been wanting this._

_Billy just smiles, turns his head to tuck his nose behind Steve's ear. “Relax, I'm not goin' anywhere,” he says, breath hot on Steve's skin, sending a shiver down his spine. “I need words sweetheart. You have to tell me that this is okay,” he adds, snapping Steve's waistband for emphasis._

_Steve whines, his eyes slipping closed, his hands tightening around Billy's wrists. It's definitely okay, more than okay, he wants this more than he's wanted anything lately. Billy scrapes his fingernails through the trail of hair just under Steve's belly button and the air punches out of Steve's lungs._

_“Yes. Yes, it's okay. Billy, please, yes,” Steve gasps._

_Billy doesn't say anything, just slides his hand lower, under the waistband of Steve's sweats and underwear to wrap around his cock. A tremor wracks Steve’s body at the contact and Billy shushes him gently, pressing a kiss to the side of Steve’s neck that leaves him reeling for a whole new reason._

_Billy waits until the shaking stops and drags his hand down the length of Steve's cock slow, circling his thumb around the tip before dragging his hand back up. It’s barely a touch, Steve would almost call it teasing, but the rough drag of Billy’s palm still makes Steve ache in the best way._

_He whines when Billy pulls his hand away, can’t help it, arching his neck further and biting down on his bottom lip to stifle any more noises. When Billy’s hand returns to his cock it's slick with lube and Steve’s mouth drops open on a gasp, his spine arching into the contact._

_Billy’s other hand moves in soothing circles against Steve’s ribs, shushing him, trying to calm him._

_It’s not like it’s been that long since he got himself off, he’s eighteen years old with a healthy sex drive, he’s not desperate for this. But it’s been so long since someone else has touched him, and he's wanted them to, just the thought that it's Billy's hands on him now is enough to have him gasping._

_“You still with me Harrington?” Billy asks, a teasing edge to his words that kicks the heat in Steve’s veins up a notch._

_He opens his mouth to reply, teasing remark waiting on his tongue, but Billy chooses that moment to tighten his grip on Steve’s cock, starting a slow rhythm of steady strokes, and all that comes out is a garbled moan. Steve looks down his body to where Billy’s hand is tucked under his waistband and let’s out another broken whine._

_“Look at me pretty boy,” Billy says, right in his ear, and Steve does._

_He drags his eyes up to meet Billy’s in the mirror, and the look in Billy’s eyes makes him damn near shake apart. There's want in Billy’s eyes, Steve might even call it desire, but there’s something else too, something Steve hesitates to put a name to because, it can’t be true._

_This thing between them, whatever it is, it just started, they’re supposed to be taking it slow. But this, right now, Steve against Billy's chest and Billy’s hand around Steve’s cock, this doesn’t feel slow._

_Billy gives Steve’s length another slow stroke and Steve moans._

_Fuck slow, honestly, Steve doesn’t care how fast things move after this, all he knows right now is that he doesn’t want this to stop._

_Billy leans in closer, catching Steve’s earlobe between his teeth and tugging slightly. “God, you’re gorgeous, been wanting to do this for so long,” Billy tells him, nipping at the base of his jaw._

_Another long, slow stroke._

_“I bet you look fucking perfect when you cum,” he adds, meeting Steve’s eyes in the mirror again as he speeds up his strokes._

_Steve keens, his hands tightening against Billy’s arms, nails digging in._

_“Are you close Stevie?” Billy says, a wicked smile on his face, doing something with his thumb that nearly makes Steve’s knees buckle. “C'mon baby, cum for me, I wanna see you,” he says, doing that thing with his thumb again._

_That and the look in his eyes is all it takes to send Steve over the edge, spilling into his pants and Billy’s hand._

Steve wakes up gasping, his skin damp with sweat and cum.

It was a dream. Of course it was a fucking dream.

Steve groans, dragging a pillow over his head. What the fuck is wrong with him? They have one talk about this thing between them and he has a wet dream about the guy? He’s gonna ruin it before anything even fucking happens.

He throws the blankets off himself and gets up to head to his bathroom. Not the ideal place to be with the dream still fresh in his mind, but fuck him if he’s going back to sleep this way.

He grabs a washcloth out of one of the drawers and steps out of his pajama pants, gingerly wiping himself down before kicking both the washcloth and the pants into a corner to be dealt with later.

He walks back into his bedroom, pulling on a new pair of pants and dropping face first onto his bed. His dick twitches faintly at the friction as he moves back to his previously vacated spot, but he ignores it in favor of burrowing into his blankets.

He falls asleep quickly to thoughts of Billy’s lips on his skin.

The next time Steve wakes up it’s to pounding on a door, and it takes him a minute to realize it’s not on his door, but on the bathroom door across the hall.

“What the fuck Dustin,” Max yells, muffled through two sets of doors.

“Get out of the fucking shower Max, I need in there,” Dustin yells back.

Steve pulls his pillow over his face, but he still hears Billy's footsteps up the stairs.

“Can you assholes maybe shut up, you’re gonna wake Steve up,” Billy spits, voice significantly lower than the kids’ had been.

“She's hogging the fucking shower,” Dustin replies, still very much yelling, pounding on the door again.

“There are eight bathrooms in this goddamn house, go use a different one,” Billy tells him, practically growling.

“But this one has the best water pressure,” Dustin whines.

Steve is almost positive he’s going to have to get up and intervene, but then the bathroom door opens and Max gets involved.

“Aren't you supposed to be downstairs making breakfast for sleeping beauty?” Max questions.

“Put some fucking clothes on Maxine,” Billy spits back.

“I’m wearing a bathrobe William, besides, I didn’t ask you assholes to gather outside the bathroom,” she replies.

“What the hell are you looking at dweeb? Get your ass downstairs,” Billy adds.

Steve can't help but laugh at Dustin’s stuttered: “Wh-. What did I do,” as he starts down the stairs.

“I used all the hot water,” Max yells, cheery.

“Jesus Christ,” Dustin yells back, stomping the rest of the way down the stairs.

“Hurry up and get dressed, there’s pancakes if you want some,” Billy says after a minute.

“Did you actually make him breakfast?” Max asks.

“They’re chocolate chip,” Billy replies, not even subtle about avoiding the question.

“I’ll be down in a minute,” she says, shutting her bedroom door.

Steve waits and listens, Billy doesn’t go downstairs, and when Steve looks over he can see that Billy is standing outside his door, hovering, just like he'd done last night. Steve sees the movement of the door handle when Billy grabs it, but he keeps his eyes open this time. The knob turns, but Billy hesitates, and then Dustin yells from downstairs.

“Hey, are these pancakes for everybody?” he says, though it sounds like his mouth is already full.

“If you eat all the pancakes I’ll lock you in the trunk of the Camaro,” Max yells back, throwing her bedroom door open and stomping off down the stairs.

“Jesus Christ,” Billy mutters, stepping back from the door and following Max down the stairs.

The yelling downstairs continues and Steve closes his eyes, it’s almost enough to make him believe last night never happened, that he'd never been alone in his house, surrounded by a suffocating silence.

A few minutes pass, the yelling dies down to a slight murmur, the occasional squabble over the syrup, and Steve’s stomach growls. He waits a few more minutes, not quite ready to leave his bed, listens to Max and Dustin have an argument about peanut butter that ends with Billy threatening to shove both their heads in the jar, and decides he should probably go downstairs before Billy completely loses it.

He’s halfway down the stairs when the phone rings, and he hears Max’s chair scrape across the floor as she bolts up to answer it.

“Hello,” she greets, and Steve can feel her excitement from his place on the stairs.

“Hi Jane, are you still coming over tonight?”.

“Good, Nancy said she could pick you up around five”.

“Yes, Billy will be here,” Max says, the excitement in her voice dropping a little.

“Aw, is my girl askin' about me?” Billy pipes up from the kitchen.

Steve can’t help a small smile.

“Shut up you creep, she's thirteen,” Max screeches back.

“Tell her I said hello,” Billy says, unfazed.

Max groans into the phone. “Billy says hi,” she says, like it's causing her physical pain.

“Alright, I’ll see you tonight. Bye Jane,” Max hangs up the phone and makes her way back to the kitchen.

“What’d she say?” Billy asks.

Max groans again; “She said hi back you dweeb”.

“I didn’t know you were havin’ friends over tonight,” Billy says.

“Yeah, just Jane and Nancy though, we're having a girls night,” Max replies.

“Are you now,” Billy says, and Steve can hear the smirk in his voice.

“Yes. Steve already said it was fine,” Max replies, not seeming the least bit amused.

“Did he?” Billy questions, Steve can tell he’s doing it just to be a shit.

“Yeah, I okayed girls night,” Steve says, joining everyone in the kitchen.

“See, I told you so,” Max says, sticking her tongue out at Billy.

Billy rolls his eyes and looks to Steve, and Steve stops breathing.

The look in Billy's eyes is so soft, Steve doesn’t know how it could be directed at him, he sees it and remembers last night, remembers Billy’s hand in his, Billy's thumb across his knuckles. He can't breathe until Billy looks away from him.

“There's pancakes in the microwave,” Billy tells him, his eyes on the table.

“Y-yeah, thanks,” Steve manages, swallowing past the lump in his throat, he just catches the look on Dustin’s face as he turns away, before Max glares and punches him in the chest.

Steve’s hands are shaking as he pulls a plate out of the cupboard, and he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, but he swears he can feel Billy’s hands on him still.

They held hands for Christ’s sake, that’s all, there’s no reason for Steve to be acting like a goddamned blushing virgin about it. But that’s not the problem.

He fell asleep last night with Billy in his bed, but he was alone when he woke up from the dream. It hadn’t even occurred to him last night, but now it was all he could think about.

Had Billy still been in bed with him when the dream started? And if he was, how long had he stayed? Had Steve said anything while he was dreaming? Did Billy know?

He’s so lost in his own head that he doesn’t notice Billy coming up behind him until he’s already there, a hand on his shoulder. Steve startles at the touch, nearly dropping the plate, and Billy fixes soft, worried eyes on him.

“I’m sorry,” Steve says right away, his eyes wide.

Steve can't help but imagine that he probably looks a bit like a deer in the headlights right now, and that mental image, paired with his exhaustion, makes him burst out laughing.

Billy jolts in surprise, Steve feels it through the hand Billy still has on his shoulder, and he apologizes again, though it comes out strained due to his laughter.

Billy casts a cautious glance back at Dustin and Max, both still sitting at the table, both wide eyed. He looks between the kids and Steve before huffing a breath.

“Just, give us a sec Max,” he says quietly, waiting for her nod before he takes the plate from Steve’s hands and leads him to the hall.

As soon as the kids are out of sight Billy’s hands are on Steve’s face, and his breath catches so abruptly that he chokes, but Billy just keeps touching him, running soothing fingers over Steve’s cheekbones, and looking at him like he’s going to shatter apart at any second.

Steve’s choked off breath turns into a sob and he lets out a frustrated sound at his own ridiculousness.

“Why-,” Steve starts, trying again when his voice breaks.

“Why do you have to look at me like that,” he manages, despite the tears currently running down his cheeks and the lump in his throat.

“Like what?” Billy asks, looking genuinely confused.

Steve rolls his eyes at the question, because it should be obvious.

“Like you give a shit,” he says, unable to meet Billy’s eyes. Because, if he had been there last night, if he knew about Steve's dream, there was no way he was sticking around.

Sure, Billy likes him, but there’s no way he likes him like that.

Billy scoffs, startling Steve out of his thoughts, one of his hands moving to the back of Steve’s neck, anchoring in his hair, pulling lightly when Steve still doesn’t look at him.

Billy tugs at his hair again and Steve looks up, meets his eyes.

The soft look is back again, and it's so much worse seeing it this close, Steve swallows hard and forces himself not to drop his eyes.

“Because I do give a shit, asshole,” Billy tells him.

Steve wants to argue, he really does, but this close, he can see that Billy means it, so he just nods.

Billy smirks, grabbing the neck of Steve’s t-shirt and using it to wipe the tears off his face.

“Now come on, breakfast is getting cold,” he says, stepping back out of Steve’s space.

Steve takes a few deep breaths, trying to regain some semblance of control, and follows him into the kitchen.

“Thank god. Steve, tell Dustin that he can't stay for girls night,” Max says, as soon as Steve enters the kitchen.

“Why not? Steve and Billy are gonna be here,” Dustin insists.

“They live here asshole. Besides, the guys are going to hang out at Will's, which you would know if you had been paying attention to Mike last night, instead of following me around like a stalker,” she tells him.

“Please, like I’d stalk you. I was just making sure you weren’t going to leave without me, I didn’t have any other way to get here,” Dustin replies.

Max rolls her eyes.

“Whatever, point is, you’re not staying for girls night. Right Steve?” she asks, looking to Steve for an answer.

Steve, who has just shoved half a pancake in his mouth, nods dumbly and points his fork at Dustin.

“You can hang out with the guys at Will’s house, I can drop you off,” he says, muffled through the food in his mouth.

“And, what did I tell you about stalking, huh?” he tracks on, fixing Dustin with a look.

Dustin groans, slouching in his chair. “It's not how you make friends,” he replies, before sitting up.

“But I totally wasn't stalking her, I was really just making sure she didn’t leave without me. She threatened to, and I woulda been stuck at the arcade,” he adds.

Max rolls her eyes again. “You wouldn’t have been stuck at the arcade. I’m sure Jonathan would have given you a ride home,” she says.

Billy scoffs a laugh, and Dustin turns wide eyes towards Steve.

Steve shoves another half a pancake in his mouth to avoid saying anything.

“Alright assholes, dishes in the sink,” Billy says.

The kids stand, bickering the whole way to the sink, before heading for the living room, still arguing. Steve finishes the last of his pancakes, half listening to their argument.

“Whatever Max. I don’t wanna come to your stupid girls night anyway,” Dustin says.

“Does he ever shut up?” Billy asks, from where he’s standing in front of the sink.

Steve shrugs, picking up his plate and walking over to pull himself up on the counter next to Billy. “Not really. You get used to it eventually,” he says.

They fall into an oddly comfortable silence as Billy washes the dishes, handing them off to Steve who dries them and puts them away, and Steve zones out listening to the kids argue in the other room.

He's snapped out of his head when Billy taps him on the outside of his thigh and he turns quickly to meet Billy’s eyes.

Billy quirks an eyebrow at his jumpiness, keeping his hand on Steve’s thigh.

“You okay?” he asks, his voice low, even though he won’t be heard over the children bickering in the other room.

Steve nods, managing a small smile. Billy looks unimpressed, shifting his weight to one side and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Liar,” he says, and Steve’s smile falters. Billy furrows his brows and opens his mouth to say something, but Steve’s attention is pulled away by the kids thundering up the stairs yelling.

“I told you to stop following me creepoid!”

“I’m not following you, we're going the same direction you drama queen!”

The resulting argument is lost to the slamming of a door upstairs and Steve jolts when he turns and finds Billy closer than before.

The yelling upstairs fades into the background as Billy moves closer still, placing his hands on the counter on either side of Steve’s knees, meeting his eyes.

“What’s up with you today?” Billy asks.

Steve drops his eyes to his lap and Billy surprises him again when he tilts Steve’s face back up with two fingers under his chin.

“C'mon Stevie, spit it out, or I’ll just keep annoying you until you do,” he says with a small smirk.

Steve opens his mouth to reply only to snap it shut when the door upstairs opens again and the kids come racing back down the stairs bickering loudly.

Steve's breath catches when Billy's eyes flick down to his lips before he steps back and away, going back to the dishes as Steve slides down off the counter and heads towards the living room.

He enters the living room to find Dustin at the bottom of the stairs bitching at Max about god knows what and finds out pretty quick that no amount of mediating will stop the arguing. He's trying, and failing, to ignore them when Billy enters the room, rolling his eyes at both of them and dropping down on the couch next to Steve.

Around two, and after a lot of complaining from both Dustin and Max, Steve takes Dustin and heads for Mike's, promising to get soda and plenty of snacks on his way back.

That leaves Billy and Max, alone. Which would be fine normally, but she keeps giving him these _looks_.

“Can I fucking help you with something?” Billy snaps once he's tired of the looks.

Max sighs. “Is Steve alright?” she asks, and Billy breathes a sigh of relief.

“He'll be fine Max, you don't have to worry about him,” he replies.

She rolls her eyes. “Right, yeah, that'll happen,” she mutters.

Billy scoffs a laugh. He gets where she's coming from, it had been hard enough pretending not to care before. But now, after their talk, after what happened last night, it's hard enough trying to hide just how much he cares.

Max scrunches her face and looks down at the floor, kicking at the carpet a bit, and Billy knows there's more.

“What is it now?” he says.

She shrugs, “It's nothing, just, you know you can talk to me, right? About anything”.

“Maxine,” Billy warns, his entire body going tense.

Max lets out a disappointed huff. “I know, I know,” she mutters, sending one more look his way before taking off up the stairs, leaving Billy to melt into the couch in relative peace.

The peace doesn't last long before Steve returns, Jonathan, Nancy, Will, and Jane in tow.

Max comes charging down the stairs as soon as she hears the door, and Billy is just distracted enough by her and Jane's excited muttering to completely miss Will coming at him until he's tackled around the waist.

“Hey kid,” Billy says with a smirk, ruffling Will's hair.

“When did that happen?” Jonathan questions, eyes shifting from Will and Billy, to Steve.

Steve just shrugs in response, walking into the living room and depositing the pizza, snacks, and soda on the coffee table.

Billy snags a package of peach rings, smirking at Steve's muttered “those are supposed to be for the girls”.

Later, after Jonathan and Will have said their goodbyes, the girls are gathered around the food, Nancy on the couch, Max and Jane on the floor, and Steve is trying desperately to escape their conversation.

The topic is boys, and between Max's yammering on about Lucas and her and Jane's insistent questions about his and Nancy's past relationship, Steve is about ready to melt through the floor.

“Mike is **not** my boyfriend,” Jane suddenly shouts, leaving Max in a fit giggles.

“Well, tell him that. He's the one that won't shut up about it,” Max replies, her giggles subsiding as she shoves half her slice of pizza in her mouth.

Billy saunters into the room smirking, rolling his eyes at Max as he leans against the back of the couch.

“That kid bothering you Janie? You want me to have a talk with him?” he asks.

Jane smirks at him and Nancy laughs.

“Mike already doesn't like you, okay. Don't make it worse,” she says.

Billy smiles, all teeth, sending a jolt up Steve's spine. “He's just jealous because I'm Janie's favorite,” he says.

“Yeah, that's pretty much it. Of course, and I hate to be the one to tell you this, but none of the kids really like how close you've gotten to Steve,” Nancy tells him.

“Mostly Dustin,” Max and Jane chime in unison.

“Shut up,” Steve groans from his spot on the couch.

“What do you mean?” Billy asks.

Nancy shrugs. “He just used to be around all the time, and now that he's hanging out with you, he isn't. They don't like that they no longer have his undivided attention, Dustin especially,” she replies.

“They didn't have my undivided attention,” Steve pouts.

Nancy and Billy both roll their eyes at him.

“Alright, I’m gonna get out of here,” Billy says, grabbing his keys and pulling his leather jacket on over his shoulders.

Steve thinks he looks a lot like something straight out of a wet dream, and swallows down the urge to say something to that effect. “Take me with you?” he says instead.

Billy smirks, showing teeth, and Steve’s breath catches in his throat.

“What’s the matter Harrington? You don’t want to hang out and talk about boys?” he teases.

Steve scoffs, _“I don’t think your sister wants to hear the thoughts I’ve been having about you,”_ sits, waiting on his tongue, but he bites it down and glares.

“Oh come on Billy. Don’t leave me here, that’s cruel,” he pouts, jutting his bottom lip out for emphasis. He tells himself he’s imagining the way Billy focuses in on his bottom lip, biting his own lip, smirk still on his face, but that doesn’t keep his heart from speeding up.

“Alright pretty boy, let’s go. But you don’t get to bitch that you’re bored,” Billy tells him, heading towards the front door.

Steve rolls his eyes and follows him, hoping the blush on his cheeks isn’t too obvious and calling goodbye to the girls over his shoulder.

Nancy smirks at him when he turns to face her, so he knows she sees the blush and he rushes out the front door after Billy, leaving the girls with a whole new subject to talk about.

Billy is leaned back against the hood of the Camaro smoking a cigarette when Steve gets outside, and Billy offers it to Steve once he’s close enough. Steve accepts the cigarette, taking a long drag as Billy stands from the hood.

“We gotta stop for gas,” Billy tells him, spinning his keys around his finger.

Steve shrugs, pulling his keys out of his pocket and tossing them in Billy’s direction. “We can just take mine, I just filled the tank this morning,” he says.

Billy looks from the keys in his hand, to Steve, to Steve’s car, and back again. “You want me to drive?” he asks, sounding, almost, giddy.

Steve raises an eyebrow at the strange question. “Yeah man, I mean, I can if you don't want to,” he says.

Billy barely lets him finish his sentence before he moves towards Steve’s car.

“Fuck, are you kidding. Yeah, I’ll fuckin’ drive,” he says, running a hand over the hood of Steve’s car.

Steve rolls his eyes, finishing the cigarette and crushing it into the pavement.

“It's just a car Billy,” he says.

Because, sure, it's impressive, but Steve isn’t really a car guy, and thus doesn’t understand the obsession people seem to have with his car.

Billy turns to glare at him, patting the hood of the car like it’s a living thing. “Don’t listen to him baby, you’re beautiful,” he says.

“Oh my god. You’re talking to a car now, you do realize that, right?” Steve questions, both eyebrows raised now.

Billy rolls his eyes now, like there’s nothing wrong with talking to a car, and climbs in the drivers seat.

“Unbelievable,” Steve scoffs, walking around to get in the passenger seat.

Billy is caressing the steering wheel, and Steve puts a hand to his forehead.

“Do you need a minute alone?” Steve asks.

“It's alright baby, he's just jealous,” Billy says, to the car, again.

Steve huffs a laugh and makes himself comfortable.

Billy starts the car, revving the engine a few times, and looks back at Steve with an excited glint in his eyes.

“Let’s see what this baby can do, huh,” he says, eyebrows raised, tongue between his teeth.

Steve actually laughs.

“If you get pulled over, you’re explaining this to Hopper,” he says.

Billy runs a hand over the dashboard. “Worth it,” he says, pulling out of the driveway and taking off down the street.

The garage is just outside town, and Billy takes the long way, gunning it down a back road with a childish smile on his face that Steve can't help but laugh at.

The garage is empty when they get there and Billy let’s them in, holding the door open for Steve before locking it behind them.

“Alright pretty boy, get comfortable. We're gonna be here for a while and I don’t want to hear any complaining,” Billy says, walking towards the back room.

Steve rolls his eyes. “I let you drive my car and this is the thanks I get? Unbelievable,” he jokes.

“Bite me Harrington,” Billy shoots back, sliding his jacket off his shoulders.

Steve entertains himself well enough, but Billy still doesn’t get anything done.

He’s distracted, he can’t help it. With everything that’s happened between him and Steve the past couple days he’d actually been hoping to get some time alone, to think about everything, but, fuck if he was gonna tell Steve no.

Billy is jolted out of his thoughts when Steve comes up behind him, leaning over Billy’s shoulder to see what he’s doing.

“Can I help you pretty boy?” Billy asks after a minute or so of silence.

Behind him Steve shrugs. “What are you doing?” he asks.

Billy scoffs. “I’m changing the oil, what does it look I’m doing?” he says.

“Right, yeah, I knew that,” Steve replies, a weird tone in his voice.

Billy turns to look back at him over his shoulder and finds him looking down at his shoes, his hands stuffed down in his pockets.

“Hold on. Harrington, please tell me you know how to change oil,” Billy says, unable to stop his laugh when Steve brings one of his hands up to rub at the back of his neck, a sheepish look on his face.

“Oh come on man, you have got to be kidding me. You own a car, how do you not know how to change oil?” he asks, turning around to lean back on the car, arms crossed over his chest.

Billy can't help his smirk as a blush works it’s way up Steve's neck.

He shrugs again, looking everywhere but at Billy.

“My dad has a guy for that,” Steve mumbles under his breath.

Billy can’t help but laugh, grabbing at Steve’s shirt as he rolls his eyes and turns to walk away.

“Not even. Come on pretty boy,” he says, pulling Steve closer to the car.

Steve lets himself be dragged closer with little resistance, just a groan, and Billy turns towards the car again, reaching forward to show Steve what to do.

Their shift in position leaves Billy practically boxing Steve in against the front of the car and he quickly shifts to the side to avoid any awkwardness.

He goes through the motions of what needs to be done quickly and backs off to let Steve try for himself, staying close, but not too close.

The garage goes quiet again, nothing but the soft sound of the radio Billy hadn’t bothered to shut off, and the noise of Steve working next to him. The quiet is starting to put him on edge, so Billy clears his throat.

“So, what, you don’t like working on cars?” Billy asks, ass against the front bumper again as he watches Steve work.

Steve shrugs. “Nah, I just, never learned. My dad wouldn’t trust me to do this kind of stuff anyway so, why bother,” he replies.

Billy rolls his eyes and shoves a bit at Steve’s shoulder, to get a smile back on his face if nothing else, careful not to jostle him too much. It works, Steve smiles down at his hands and Billy counts it as a win.

“Newsflash pretty boy, it’s your car, you gotta at least know how to change the oil,” Billy tells him.

Steve is still smiling as he stands up straight, wiping the back of one hand across his face. “Well, now I do. Thanks,” Steve says, his smile knocking the fucking air out of Billy's lungs.

After everything that has happened in the last few days, it's too much. All of a sudden, they're too close. Billy can't breathe right, and he just knows he's gonna do something stupid.

He reaches out to cup Steve's chin in his hand, swiping the streak of grease off Steve's jawline with his thumb. He doesn't drop the contact though, he keeps his hand where it is, watching as Steve's cheeks go pink.

Billy couldn't tell you who leaned in first, but he knows they’re getting closer, and he can’t take his eyes off Steve’s fucking lips.

The door opening in the other room has them practically jumping away from each other, neither one of them meeting the others eyes as Billy heads out to the main room.

“Hey Billy! That you back there?” Stan calls out, keys jingling.

“Yeah, right here,” Billy calls back.

Stan greets him with a smile and Billy tries his best to do the same.

“Sorry kid, I figured it was you, but somebody called about lights on, and when I didn’t see your car I figured I should come in and check,” he says.

Billy shakes his head. “Its fine. I just stopped in to finish up a few things, I’m not stayin' long,” Billy explains.

Stan nods, eyes on the clipboard in his hands. “Alright, well, I gotta finish up inventory so, let me know when you leave yeah,” he replies.

Billy nods in agreement, turning to head back to the other room when something clatters from that direction, the noise followed by a low; “shit,”.

When Billy turns to look Stan has his eyebrows raised.

“You got somebody back there kid?” he asks, whispering.

Billy rolls his eyes, fighting to keep the blush off his face. “Nah Stan, it’s not like that,” he starts.

Stan interrupts him, holding the clipboard up in front of him. “I don’t mind, I’m not sayin' anything about it. Just, clean up when you’re done, and, use protection,” he says, laughing as he turns to walk away.

Billy flips him off and heads to the back room.

“Christ Harrington, could you be any louder?” Billy asks, determined to ignore what almost happened.

Steve glares. “Fuck off, I didn’t do it on purpose,” he grumbles.

Billy scoffs a laugh. “Relax Harrington, it’s fine, Stan doesn’t care. Besides, we should probably be heading out anyway. Who knows what kind of trouble the girls are getting into without us,” he says, leaning down to pick up the few tools Steve had managed to knock on the floor.

Steve nods. “Right, yeah, we should probably go,” he says.

Billy ignores the odd tone as best he can, grabbing his jacket and heading towards the front room again.

“Hey Stan, I’m heading out,” Billy calls out.

He hears Stan laugh from the office. “Alright kid, I’ll see you tomorrow. Sorry to crash your party,” he calls.

Billy flips him off one more time, just for good measure, and follows Steve out the door.

They have a pretty good walk to the car, and Steve does a shitty job of hiding a shiver, so Billy rolls his eyes and drops his jacket over Steve’s shoulders with a smirk.

“Told you it was gonna be cold dumbass,” Billy says.

Steve doesn’t say anything, but Billy sees him pull the jacket closer around himself out of the corner of his eye.

Billy isn’t in a hurry to get back to the house. Now that the air isn’t thick with tension it’s actually nice.

They’ve got the windows up, the heat on, the radio low, Steve’s humming along to something by Tom Petty. It's comfortable, Billy’s actually relaxed, a small smile on his face as he drives.

They make the whole drive in comfortable silence, and Billy doesn't wait around for it to go awkward after he pulls into the driveway, just gets out and follows Steve to the door.

They hear the girls chattering in the living room as they get closer to the door, but it goes silent as soon as Steve enters the room wearing Billy's jacket.

Billy just catches the look Jane and Max exchange, doing a shit job at hiding their giggle, before he mutters an excuse and takes off towards his room.

Nancy gives the girls a significant look as Steve wanders in and drops down on the couch and they quickly press their lips shut as she offers Steve a glass of wine.

Steve stays for more than one glass of wine, Billy's jacket still around his shoulders even as Max guilt's him into eating some pizza, and when Jane decides to paint his nails.

The conversation dies down eventually, the sugar wearing off, and soon enough the crackle of a walkie-talkie has the girls racing up the stairs, calling goodnight as they go.

Steve sits quietly staring at his glass of wine.

“What’s the matter Steve?” Nancy asks, keeping her voice low.

He offers a sad smile, dragging his painted thumbnail along the outside of his glass. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” he responds, just as quiet.

She sees his eyes go glassy, sees the way he sucks his bottom lip between his teeth, like he does when he’s trying not to cry.

“I wasn’t supposed to move on like this,” he adds.

She knows then, that she’s right, that Max is right. This is about Billy.

She reaches over and takes his hand, offering him a smile when he looks up. “It’s fine Steve. As long as you’re okay,” she tells him.

He drops his eyes to the couch, sniffling as a few tears spill over. “Thanks Nance,” he murmurs.

She stays there another minute, not saying anything, just sitting with him, and then she moves back to her previous spot and refills both their glasses. She has just opened her mouth to say something when they hear the bathroom door open, and Billy comes walking into the room.

He looks between Steve and Nancy, eyeing their glasses of wine and Nancy’s half smirk, before his eyes catch on Steve’s painted nails and he smirks.

“Well, don’t you look pretty Harrington,” he teases.

Steve rolls his eyes before looking up at Billy, an eyebrow raised.

Nancy sees the change the second Billy notices the tears, he softens around the edges, his shoulders relax, almost like he’s trying to make himself look smaller. Nancy almost chokes on her wine with how drastic of a change it is.

He moves closer to the couch Steve is on, dropping to lean on his elbows on the back of the couch.

“Are you alright?” he asks, not touching, even though Nancy can tell he wants to.

Steve smiles, like he can’t help it, and his cheeks go pink. “I’m fine,” he replies, voice quiet.

Billy moves closer, one hand going to Steve’s face, gentle like that night at the party. “Were you cryin’?” he asks.

Nancy has to look away from the softness on his face, she knows it’s not for her, because it feels like she's intruding.

Steve bites his lip and looks down, shy. “’M fine Billy,” he whispers, so low Nancy barely hears him.

He brings his free hand up to wipe the lingering wetness from beneath his eyes and smiles, teasing. “Still pretty?” he asks.

Billy scoffs a laugh, pushing off the back of the couch to stand straight, eyes still on Steve. “Yeah Harrington, still pretty,” he says, laughing.

Nancy does choke on her wine when Billy's eyes go dark, like he wants to eat Steve alive, her face heating up.

“Wanna grab a smoke?” Billy asks, one already between his lips.

Nancy just about gets whiplash at the change in tone, because even though the darkness of his eyes says he wants Steve, you'd never be able to tell by his tone.

Steve blinks slow, smiles at the offer, and Nancy doesn’t know how he’s looking Billy in the eye right now.

“I’m good,” he says with a small shake of his head. Billy shrugs.

“Your loss pretty boy,” he says on his way out of the living room.

Steve watches him walk away and Nancy takes advantage of his distraction, scooting closer to smack his shoulder.

He turns to her, a confused look on his face, the wine in his glass sloshing dangerously close to the rim.

“What the hell was that?” Nancy says in a harsh whisper. Steve's cheeks go pink.

“What?” he questions, dropping his eyes to his wine. She rolls her eyes.

“Don't “what” me Steve, I'm not blind, I saw the way he just looked at you,” she says.

He avoids meeting her eyes, his fingers tapping at his wine glass.

“I saw it the other night too, after the party. The way he looked at you, he was like a completely different person,” she tells him, watching the blush spread from his cheeks.

She waits patiently as he swirls the wine in his glass, avoiding her eyes as he takes a drink.

“You know, when you told me he was sweet to you, I didn’t think you meant-” she purposely lets her sentence trail off, laughing as he chokes on his wine.

“No, no Nance, it’s not like that, ” he says, insistent.

_“Bullshit”_ she almost spits, but she stops herself, not wanting to ruin this. “What’s it like then Steve? Because it sure looks like that, ” she tells him.

“It’s not Nance, I swear it's not. We're just friends, ” he assures her.

She rolls her eyes. “Uh huh, sure you are, ” she mutters, taking her last sip of wine. “You want more though,” she adds, after a few moments of silence, knowing she's right when Steve won't meet her eyes.

And, if his teary confession earlier hadn’t been enough, the blush on his cheeks would tell her all she needs to know.

He stays quiet, Nancy can see him getting teary eyed again and feels like shit for not dropping the subject.

“It's okay Steve,” she says, trying for reassuring.

Judging by his scoff, her reassurance doesn’t help.

“It's really not Nance,” he replies, voice rough. He's still not meeting her eyes and she opens her mouth to say something, but he shakes his head, downing the last of his wine with a wince and standing from the couch.

“I’m going to bed,” he says, still not looking at her.

She thinks about saying something, just so he doesn’t walk away angry, but, she doesn’t want to make it worse. She sighs, deflating a bit.

“Alright. Goodnight,” she says, getting a nod in return as he heads upstairs.

The living room is empty when Billy gets back in the house, so he heads upstairs, knocking on Steve's door before he can talk himself out of it.

A noncommittal noise is all he gets in response, but he takes it as an invitation and lets himself in.

Steve is laying on his bed, half asleep and teary eyed with a pillow hugged to his chest and Billy lets out a soft sigh as he eases down in the space next to him.

Billy doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't say anything. They lay there in relative silence until Steve eventually reaches out and interlocks their fingers.

“It'll be alright Steve,” Billy whispers, rubbing his thumb across Steve's knuckles as he snores softly beside him.


	13. Chapter 13

Steve is in the kitchen the next morning making breakfast, Nancy seated on the counter next to him halfway through her recollection of some humiliating thing some guy had done to get her attention when she suddenly stops talking.

Steve looks up from the gravy to find her staring, a bit wide eyed, at the entrance to the kitchen on Steve’s other side. He turns to see what got her attention and finds Billy, shirtless, leaning against the archway with his eyes fixed on Steve.

Steve rolls his eyes, a small smile on his face, and looks back towards the stove.

“Put a shirt on you heathen,” he says.

“Yes dear,” Billy replies, scoffing and rolling his eyes as he heads upstairs. Steve sees the smile on his face as he goes.

He smiles down at the gravy as it cooks, only looking up when Nancy clears her throat.

She has her mouth open to speak, but she snaps it shut when Billy comes thundering down the stairs and back into the kitchen, a shirt barely clinging to his shoulders with only three bottom buttons done up.

Steve rolls his eyes at him and Billy smirks, coming up behind him and snatching a biscuit off the counter.

Steve glares and Billy laughs.

“You’re gonna burn the gravy,” Billy says through the biscuit in his mouth, backing towards the window.

Steve pulls the pan off the burner, stirring the gravy for good measure.

Steve feels Nancy’s looks all through breakfast, but he ignores them in favor of listening to the girls chatter. He ducks out right after breakfast to smoke with  
Billy, trying desperately to avoid Nancy's knowing gaze.

He can only avoid her for so long though, and he finds that out the hard way upon coming in the back door. She grabs his arm and drags him to his room, shutting the door behind them, effectively trapping him in the room.

He groans and drops backwards onto his bed, pulling a pillow over his face.

“Don’t even Steve. We are talking about this,” she says, taking the pillow and hitting him with it.

“Fine,” Steve tells her, sitting up. “Just get it over with,” he adds.

She makes a face, letting him know that his reluctance won’t sway her.

She crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m not blind Steve,” she tells him, unimpressed. “What happened between you two?” she asks.

Steve’s cheeks flush and he rolls his eyes at his own reaction, dropping back onto the bed again.

“Seriously, you’re acting like you two hooked up or something,” Nancy says, shifting from one foot to the other.

“Ha! Like that could happen,” comes out before he can stop it, and Nancy suddenly looks like she understands everything.

She picks up the previously discarded pillow and chucks it at his head. “I knew it!” she yells.

Steve groans.

“You want something to happen,” she adds, all knowing.

Steve buries his face in his hands and Nancy crosses the room to drop down on  
the bed next to him, shaking his shoulder slightly.

“Come on Steve, do you know what this means?” she asks, excited suddenly.

Steve groans again. “I’m doomed to a life lived in hiding,” he replies.

She smacks him. “As if. Come on Steve, you’d have to be completely idiotic to miss how gone he is on you,” she says.

He actually laughs at that, and he turns to find Nancy giving him an incredulous look.

“What?” he asks, still laughing.

“You can’t honestly tell me you can’t see it,” she says. Steve quirks an eyebrow. 

“Steve, he is constantly flirting with you,” she adds.

Steve rolls his eyes. “Billy flirts like he breathes, it doesn’t mean anything,” he says.

Nancy hits him again. “Oh my god, Steve, you are not this dense,” she says, shaking him some more.

“What are you talking about Nance?” he asks.

She bounces up to her knees, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes wide and excited.

“Oh my god, no. Everything makes so much more sense now, she says.

“Really? Cause I’m still lost,” Steve deadpans, running a hand through his hair.

“Shut up,” she comments, standing to pace. “The thing in the cafeteria, all the looks he gives you, that night at Jonathan’s, the party the other night,” she says, ticking things off on her fingers, getting more excited as she goes.

“Steve, you have to go for it,” she tells him.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen,” he scoffs.

“Oh come on Steve, what’s the worst that could happen? He’s head over heels, you’re just in denial. Whatever happened to King Steve, he was a slut, Billy wouldn’t stand a chance,” she says.

“I was not a slut,” he insists.

She gives him a look and he relents.

“It's still not happening. I’m not making a fool out of myself based on a hunch,” he says. “Now, can we stop talking about this please,” he adds, standing from the bed and making a break for the stairs before she can say anything.

She catches up with him at the bottom as he’s frozen in place, eyes fixed on where Billy is seated on the arm of the couch. 

Jane is standing in front of him, a smile on her face as she hands him a box. Billy pulls a face, but Jane gives him an expectant look so he opens it, a small smile on his face as he picks up an earring, swapping it with the one he has in. 

“So, what’s the verdict?” he asks.

Jane smiles wider. “Pretty; bitchin,” she says, making them two separate statements. 

Max groans from her spot on the couch. “Can you not feed his ego please? It’s big enough,” she says.

Jane walks away from Billy to join her and Billy brings a hand up to the earring, his smile going shy.

Nancy's grip on Steve’s arm tightens, breaking him out of his trance and he looks down at her.

Her cheeks have gone rosy, and she’s got a dopey grin on her face. 

“Date him Steven, or I swear to god I will,” she tells him; and he can’t help but think, maybe she’s right. 

What’s the worst that could happen? 

_“Date him Steven, or I swear to god I will”._

He couldn’t get Nancy’s words out of his head, they were just constantly there at the forefront, just waiting to overwhelm him.

_“Date him Steven”._

What the hell does she know anyway? She broke up with him, for all Steve knows she’s just setting him up to fail.

Steve sighs, he feels bad for even thinking it. Sure, they have their history, but  
Nancy wouldn’t intentionally sabotage him. Especially not like this. She knows better than anyone how hard it is for Steve to trust anymore.

He sighs again and shuts off the water, stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel loosely around his waist.

He knows he’s doing the same thing again; pulling away from Billy just like he did with everyone else when Nancy broke it off. His avoidance techniques aren’t exactly subtle, and he knows Billy’s noticed how Steve won’t meet his eyes anymore.

Steve pushes his hair back out of his eyes, pulling a little on the ends as he lets out a huff of breath. He knows he can’t avoid Billy forever, but, maybe just until he figures things out a bit more.

Of course, his plan is ultimately foiled when he opens the bathroom door and literally runs into Billy.

Steve just catches Billy’s eyes as the knot of his towel comes loose, the round of his ass exposed before he can catch it.

Steve fixes the towel back in place, smirking when Billy watches him walk away like he can't look anywhere else. Like his eyes are making up for what his hands can't touch. 

It's flattering, Steve's always liked attention.

His smirk stays in place as he walks to his dresser, digging out some clothes before making his way to the bed, Billy's eyes on him the whole time. 

"See something you like Hargrove?" he questions, knowing by the blush that works it's way up Billy's neck that he's caught him off guard. 

Billy shrugs, leans in the doorway to the bathroom with easy confidence. 

"So what if I do?" Billy shoots back. Flirting like he breathes, like it's the only thing he knows how to do. 

Steve catches his bottom lip between his teeth trying to hide his smile as he drops his towel and steps into his boxers. 

His smile stays in place as he crosses the room, passing purposely close to Billy in the bathroom doorway on his way in and out. 

He stops on his way out of the bathroom again, close enough to Billy to be uncomfortable under any other circumstances, and meets his eyes. 

"Then I'd say you should do something about it," he comments, tapping the comb  
into Billy's chest before sauntering back into his bedroom, leaving Billy speechless behind him.

Billy takes a cold shower, his mind racing. Steve at the forefront of it all.

He can’t get what just happened out of his mind.

**Flirting**. Steve had been _flirting_ , **with him**. He’d been speechless for a reason; Steve doesn’t flirt, not with him anyway.

Billy shuts the water off with an exasperated shake of his head, grumbling to himself a bit as he towels himself off.

He can hear Steve and Max downstairs as he exits the bathroom, pulling a t-shirt on and stepping into some sweats. 

The door downstairs opens and closes and when he hears Steve pull out of the driveway he feels like he can breathe again.

He doesn’t remember the last time a person had him this shook up. All the girls that he’s ever hooked up with, all the guys that had eyed him in California, even the few guys he’d hooked up with; none of them affected him like this.

Normally he’s all charm and easy confidence, but around Steve that tends to go out the window. He gets too caught up in his own head and falters, starts second guessing himself. 

Something about Steve gets under his skin, leaves him breathless.

If it was anybody else, this would have been over with a long time ago, he wouldn’t be dancing around it; almost afraid to take the next step.

He knows, subconsciously, why he’s waiting instead of jumping into this headfirst and getting out as fast as he can. But, for the sake of his sanity, he’s gonna keep that reason in his subconscious for a while longer.

Billy is so lost in his own head that he doesn’t notice Max entering the room, so he has no idea how long she’s been standing there, observing, when she taps on his shoulder. 

He sees the gears turning in her head though, the slight understanding in her eyes, and he knows it’s dangerous.

“What are you doing up here? I thought you were hanging out with that dweeb,  
Duncan,” Billy says, looking away from Max to find his cigarettes.

He’s half expecting an interrogation going by the look on her face, so he’s surprised when she laughs.

“His name is Dustin,” she tells him.

Billy shrugs, it’s all the same to him.

Max rolls her eyes. “ **Dustin** wants to know if you’ll come ref our game of soccer; he says I cheat,” she says.

“Smart kid,” Billy scoffs.

Max gives him an expectant look and now it’s Billy’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Fine, one game,” he agrees.

One game turns into more like, half a game, Dustin giving up halfway through insisting that Max and Billy are conspiring against him. That argument results in Max and Dustin using the pool noodles as swords.

Steve curses as he stifles a yawn. He’s exhausted; lately it feels like he can’t get a good night’s sleep unless he’s too drunk or high to know any better.

He heaves a sigh as he watches Max and Dustin through the kitchen window, his eyes inevitably drifting to Billy.

The past few days, hell, weeks if he’s honest with himself, his eyes always drift to  
Billy; and if it’s not his eyes it’s his thoughts.

Traitorous things, as if he doesn’t have enough to think about already with all that has happened in the last week alone.

But no, he always finds his way back to Billy.

Even now he’s thinking about Billy; _leaning back against the hood of his Camaro, the blue of his eyes standing out in contrast to the white of his shirt, buttoned just a bit too high for Steve’s tastes; a cigarette dangling from his lips, that damned smirk on his face that makes Steve itch to do something stupid. Something like flicking the cigarette out of the way and pulling Billy into a kiss._

Billy’s moved towards where the Camaro is parked in the side yard, leaning back against the hood to smoke a cigarette. It’s a few minutes before he notices Steve, watching through the kitchen window, but once he does he can’t look away.

Steve looks lost in thought, something Billy can understand, but that look turns to panic between one blink and the next, and he isn’t the only one to notice. 

Max drops what she’s doing to rush to the back door, Billy and Dustin quick to follow.

Once he gets inside, it’s like he has tunnel vision. He sees nothing but Steve, stopping in front of him, his hands going to Steve’s arms like a habit. When Steve doesn’t react Billy feels a bit like the ground shifts underneath him, throwing him off balance, only righting itself when Steve seems to snap back into the moment, pulling back with a start.

Steve is pulled out of his thoughts by a pang deep in his chest and he sucks in a gasp of air, trying to shake off whatever he’s feeling. 

He’s surprised to find Billy standing in front of him, Max and Dustin flanking him, each fixing him with a look of concern.

Steve can see that Billy is talking to him, so he tries to focus past the pain in his chest, to hear what he’s saying.

It takes a minute for the feeling to fade, and he’s still not 100% when it does, but he ignores it as well as he can and meets Billy’s eyes briefly before looking back at Dustin and Max.

“Jesus, you guys scared me. How’d you get inside so fast?” he asks, faking a smile to try and ease whatever worry they’re feeling.

Max and Billy exchange looks, sharing a brief nod of understanding before they look back to Steve.

“We saw you through the window. Steve, you looked-” Billy lets his sentence trail off.

Dustin rolls his eyes. “You looked like shit,” he adds, jerking away when Max hits him, glaring daggers as she does.

“Gee, thanks. I’m fine, you didn’t have to come inside just to tell me I looked like shit,” Steve says.

Max bites the inside of her cheek and shoots a worried look in Billy’s direction now.

“Steve, you were having a panic attack,” she tells him, matter-of-fact.

Steve is careful to keep his face blank, nothing but his trusty fake smile showing through. “I’m fine guys, really. I’m just tired. I think I’m gonna go lay down for a while,” he says.

Max nods, a little fake smile of her own. “That’s not a bad idea,” she says.

Steve doesn’t let his fake smile drop until he’s safely on the other side of his bedroom door, the wood a solid comfort behind him. He closes his eyes as he slides down to sit on the floor.

Max is right, he was panicking.

Steve scoffs, dropping his head into his hands. Just the thought of something as simple as a kiss has him panicking. He was stupid to think anything could ever come of this, whatever the fuck is happening between them.

He stands from the floor only to walk over and collapse on the bed.

_“You’re just in denial”_. 

Steve hears Nancy’s voice in his head, clear as day, and he can’t help but think, what if? 

What if Nancy is right and he’s just in denial?

Billy certainly acts interested in him. Sure, he isn’t tripping over himself in the hallways, but that’s not Billy’s style. Billy is confident, flirty. 

What if he’s been trying to tell Steve that he’s interested this whole time, and Steve is just too far in his own head to see it clearly?

Again, Nancy comes to him with true words of wisdom.

_“Whatever happened to King Steve, he was a slut, Billy wouldn’t stand a chance”_.

The only way to make sure Billy is interested is to have him make a move right? If he wants to dance around the actual subject by playing the flirting game, well, Steve can give as good as he gets.

After all, they didn’t call him King for nothing.


	14. Chapter 14

Steve is standing at the end of the driveway smoking when Billy finally finds the house. He's dressed up all douchey with his sleeves pushed up his arms, leaning back against a car that is worth more than Billy's entire life.

Steve smiles when he sees Billy, flicking the cigarette out into the street and starting towards the car.

It was going on two am and Billy feels his anger from earlier boiling under his skin. Steve looking all fucked out outside some rich kids party is not helping.

Steve leans in the window and pouts. “What happened to you man? I thought you were gonna crash this party,” Steve says.

Billy tries not to think about Steve's fucking mouth long enough to answer, but all he hears in his head are those assholes from earlier. 

_“Yeah, Harrington's alright. Real pretty all drugged up. After the Wheeler shit last year he'd let guys pass him around like a party favor”_. 

Stupid fucking rich kids, think they could run their fucking mouths, take whatever they want. 

Billy tightens his hands around the steering wheel and closes his eyes, sees red anyway, and knows he's about to do something stupid.

Steve is doe-eyed and blissed out when Billy finally manages to look at him. He wonders if any rich assholes had tried anything and feels like real shit for missing the party.

“I had work. Fuck Harrington, I can't be with you all the damn time,” Billy curses. Steve's face falls. 

There it was.

Steve pushes off the car. “You know what, I think I'll walk,” he spits, real vile, and starts heading off down the street.

Billy swears and starts driving off in the other direction, catching Max's glare in the rearview before whipping the Camaro around real fast. 

He pulls up on Steve slow and leans over to yell out the passenger window.

“I really did have work,” he says first.

Max, fucking angel that she is, kicks hard at Billy's seat.

“Jesus. I'm sorry I didn't come to the fucking party,” he tries.

Steve continues ignoring him, turning down the road directly in front of Billy's car, making Billy slam on his breaks. He sits for a minute and watches Steve walk away.

“Oh my god Billy, you're the worst. It's like, negative twenty fucking degrees out there,” Max yells, unhoooking her seatbelt and moving to pull at the seat in front of her, trying to move it so she can get out.

Billy doesn't bother telling her that it isn't that fucking cold out, he just turns down the street towards Steve before Max can figure out the seat and bolt. 

He parks on the side of the road, a bit behind where Steve is still walking away, and sighs. Billy knows that Steve can get moody like this, especially when he's being an asshole. Judging by the way Max is glaring at him, and the blood he can still taste in his mouth, Billy knows he's being an asshole.

Max growls behind him, moving for the seat again, and Billy gets out of the car.

“Steve,” he calls, starting towards him. Nothing. Not even a faltered step.

“C'mon, it's freezing out here,” he adds, close enough to Steve's still retreating form to see him shaking. He shrugs out of his jacket.

“C'mon sweetheart, talk to me,” he says.

Billy's been hanging around long enough to pick up on a few things, he knows how much Steve likes it when he turns on the charm, even when it isn't directed at him.

In front of him Steve stops walking, that's a start.

Billy catches up easy and slides his jacket over Steve's shoulders. “I'm sorry,” Billy says, after a tense minute of silence. He's starting to get antsy, Steve still won't fucking look at him.

“C'mon Stevie, at least look at me,” he says, stuffing his hands in his back pockets.

Steve relaxes a bit. “You're an asshole Hargrove,” he finally says.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Billy agrees.

Steve turns around, still pouting. Billy thinks about biting into Steve's lower lip and feels like his blood is on fire.

“I'm real sorry sweetheart,” Billy tacks on for good measure.

Steve catches his lower lip between his teeth, like Billy had been thinking about, and smiles all shy. When Steve finally looks up and meets his eyes Billy notices the wetness around his lashes, like he'd been crying.

Billy moves closer, cupping a hand over Steve's jaw. “You okay sweetheart? Were you cryin'?” he asks, definitely worried.

Steve shrugs, dropping his eyes. “I'm alright,” he says, unconvincingly.

Billy moves closer, till they're in each others space, closer than he'll usually get in public. This close he can just make out a ring of bruises around Steve's wrist, like someone had grabbed him.

“Somebody try somethin'?” he asks, spitting it between clenched teeth.

Steve pulls his hand back, pulling his sleeves down to cover his wrists, and shrugs.

“Just some drunk asshole, nothing happened,” he says.

Billy clenches his jaw and makes a mental note to ask Nancy about it later, he really should have come to the fucking party. He rubs his thumb over Steve's jaw until he sighs and relaxes into it.

“C'mon sweetheart, lets get you home,” he says. 

This close Billy can see the blush that chases across Steve's cheekbones, it makes his entire body go hot.

Steve follows him to the car, Billy's jacket still around his shoulders.

Max is sitting up in the backseat when they get there, a bit wide eyed and Billy curses when she won't meet his eyes. He'd forgotten she was there, he wonders how much she heard, and guesses by her reddened cheeks that she'd heard enough.

Steve makes himself comfortable in the passenger seat, smiling back at Max. “Hey Max,” he says as Billy gets in the car.

“Hi Steve,” she replies, smiling back at him.

“You guys didn't have to come all the way out here, I could have gotten a ride with Nance,” he says, seeming to notice the time.

“It's alright, we weren't doing anything,” Max tells him.

Billy starts back towards the house, Max and Steve talking away, until Steve leans back against the window and starts fading. Max is quiet after that, making significant eye contact every time Billy looks in the rearview mirror.

Steve is sleeping when they get to the house, leaned against the window still, his mouth slightly open.

Billy turns off the car, doesn't get out; Max is quiet, Billy is tense.

“I didn't-” Max starts after a minute.

Billy gets out of the car before she can finish. 

Steve startles awake when Billy slams the door and groans when Billy walks around the car and opens his.

“M'tired Billy,” he whines when Billy leans into unbuckle him.

“I know baby. Just, help me get you inside and you can go to bed,” Billy whispers. He can tell from the quick intake of breath that Max heard him.

He helps Steve out of the car, keeping an arm around his waist as he leads him to the door, Max following close behind them. Billy wrestles the key from Steve's pocket to unlock the door and let them in, leaving Max to lock up as he leads Steve upstairs.

Steve stops helping almost immediately once they reach his bedroom, his knees collapsing, nearly taking both of them down.

“Christ Steve, you could have waited a few more seconds,” Billy groans, resituating his grip around Steve's waist and continuing to the bed, laying Steve down once he reaches it. He pulls Steve's shoes off, dropping them at the end of the bed before taking a step back, watching as Steve gets comfortable. He   
doesn't notice Steve is looking at him until he says something.

“Billy,” Steve says, his voice soft.

Billy's breath catches when he looks up. Seeing Steve laying there, his hair a mess, his eyes hooded, his shirt riding up, with Billy's jacket underneath him, it makes his heart skip in his chest.

“C'mere, what happened to your face?” Steve asks, leaning up on one arm and snagging Billy's shirt with his other hand, pulling him close enough that Billy has to rest a knee on Steve's bed to stay upright. 

Steve manages to get a hand on Billy's chin, his thumb ghosting just under where Billy knows his lip is split.  
Billy shrugs, “I got into it with a few guys at the garage. They got a few good hits in, but I won,” he explains, his voice strained. Steve offers a small smile.

“You're starting fights at work now?” he questions.

Billy shakes his head slightly, he wishes Steve would drop this, but one look at him lets Billy know that he won't.

“They were sayin' some shit I didn't like,” he offers. Steve raises an eyebrow and Billy sighs. “They were sayin' shit about you, okay; and it pissed me off,” he admits. Steve offers a real smile now, his hand dropping to Billy's neck.

“You were sticking up for me,” he says.

Billy rolls his eyes. “No, it's cute. You're a real knight in faded denim,” he adds, and Billy can tell he's trying not to laugh.

“Alright, piss off. What happened to being tired huh? Go the fuck to sleep,” Billy says, unable to stop his own smile as he pushes Steve back onto the bed.

Steve blinks owlishly up at him, a small smile on his face.

“Thanks for looking out for me Billy,” he says softly.

Billy swallows hard and stands there until Steve falls asleep, reaching up to brush some hair out of his face. “Somebody has to,” he murmurs, pulling the blankets up around Steve and standing from the bed.

Max is in the doorway when Billy turns around, her arms crossed over her chest. He crosses his arms over his own chest and waits.

“I didn't know you could look like that,” she says after a minute, her voice low.

“Like what?” he grunts.

Max shrugs, a small smile on her face. “Happy,” she says. Billy scoffs a laugh, shaking his head.

“You can't tell anyone about this Max,” he says.

Her smile drops. “What about Steve?” she asks.

“Nobody Max. Especially Steve,” he replies immediately. Her whole face scrunches up and he knows she's about to argue.

“Billy-” she starts, but he cuts her off before she can work herself up to a full rant.

“Just, promise you won't tell anyone Max. Please,” he says. She looks shocked at his plea.

The seconds she spends thinking about it are the longest of Billy's life, but then, meeting his eyes, she holds one hand out, pinkie extended.

“Are you serious Maxine? A pinkie promise?” he questions, nerves clogging his throat.

She glares. “Yes _William_ , I'm serious. Pinkie promise,” she replies.

He rolls his eyes, but she looks serious enough, so he moves closer and locks their pinkies together.

“Nobody Max, I mean it,” he repeats.

Now she rolls her eyes. “For what it's worth, _William_ , he's a lot happier with you around,” she says, dropping her hand. Billy crosses his arms again, his jaw tight, and she turns and walks to her bedroom.

The next week drags on; Billy pulling double shifts more often than not, the exhaustion weighing him down, and Steve was _not_ helping.

Billy hadn’t been able to think straight since Steve had issued his little _challenge_.

His comment of; _“Then I’d say you should do something about it,”_ all too close and half naked had to have been a challenge. That, or an invitation.

And Steve hadn’t slowed down since, barely giving Billy time to breathe, let alone think. 

It started in the middle of Monday afternoon, Billy is minding his own business heading out for a smoke when he just happens to catch sight of Steve and Nancy a bit further up the hall. He’s so distracted just looking at Steve that he runs into some guy coming at him.

Steve looks over the second they collide and smirks, so Billy sneers a bit at the guy in front of him and knocks the books out of his hand before continuing on his way, ignoring Steve’s laughter to the best of his ability.

Then again the next day.

He’s outside waiting for Max, lighting a cigarette when Steve’s voice has him looking up. Steve is a few spaces away talking to Tommy, and Billy can’t help but look him up and down. There’s something different about him that Billy can’t quite put his finger on.

That particular incident leaves Billy with a burnt thumb.

A few days later at the arcade Billy is in the middle of a heated discussion with Jane when Steve taps him on the shoulder to let him know he’s going out for a smoke. Billy is so distracted by the sway of Steve’s hips as he walks away that Jane has to clear her throat to get his attention back, a smirk on her face when he finally snaps out of it.

Then comes the basketball incident when, in the middle of gym class, Steve starts _giggling_. 

That leaves Billy with a scuffed cheek and a bruised ego.

He’s more than exhausted by the end of the week, but, of course, he just can’t catch a break.

Billy sighs as he drags Steve out of the second party in a row. He likes Nancy, he really does, but he really wishes she'd stop inviting Steve to parties on nights Billy has to work. 

Luckily nobody tried anything, most douchebags sufficiently warned, but that, unfortunately, leaves Steve drunk and mopey. 

The drive home is quiet, the radio down, the silence continues even as Billy parks the car and gets out to help Steve to the house. 

He leans into Billy more as he helps him out of the car, and practically lets him carry him up the stairs, but that’s where things change; Billy turns to leave him, just so he can lock the front door and change into some sweats, but instead of letting him go Steve pulls him closer, holds tighter, and when Billy turns to ask him what’s wrong he pulls him closer still and crashes their lips together. 

Billy isn’t exactly surprised, he knows that Steve can get like this, the desperation in the kiss telling Billy exactly what mindset Steve is in, so he puts a hand on either side of Steve’s face and breaks the kiss, shifting to rest their foreheads together. 

“I can’t, Stevie, I can’t,” Billy tells him, letting the desperation bleed into his voice. 

“What?” Steve sobs, jerking back like Billy’s hit him. 

Billy puts his hands on Steve’s shoulders, tries not to let him get too far. 

“No, Stevie, c'mon,” Billy says, rubbing his hands up and down Steve’s shoulders. “Baby, you’re high right now, and drunk, I can’t do this. If you still want me later, when you’re sober, we can talk about it,” he adds. 

Steve is crying, and it's breaking Billy's heart, but he can’t let this happen like this, he can’t be like every other guy Steve has ever been with. 

“I-I jus-“ Steve is well and truly crying now, hiccupping sobs, and Billy is dying to just fucking hold him. 

“I just don't want you to leave me,” he manages, his voice breaking. 

Billy pulls him in closer, until Steve gives in and collapses into him so Billy can hold him. 

“I’m not going anywhere baby,” Billy replies, hoping Steve can hear the promise in his voice.

Billy couldn't sleep. Not after what happened. 

He has to keep reminding himself that Steve was high out of his mind, not to mention drunk and moping. 

He keeps telling himself it didn't mean anything. Needing to talk himself out of getting his hopes up. He spent a solid hour laying next to Steve staring at the ceiling, and when that turned into watching Steve sleep, like a creep, he decided to head out for a smoke. 

He'd finished his cigarette hours ago, but he hadn't made it back inside yet. 

A small, naive part of him wants to believe that Steve meant it, that it wasn't just some drunk, desperate plea; that it won't ruin whatever is between them. 

Billy heaves a sigh, his breath fogging in the cool morning air as he pushes off the side of the house. He can mope just as well laying down. 

He's slow making his way to the room, stopping first at Steve's door to check on him, only to find him sitting up, curled in on himself with his head in his hands. 

Billy leans in the doorway. "How long have you been awake?" he asks. 

Steve jumps, turning on Billy, giving him a speculative look. 

"Is somethin' wrong?" Billy asks, worry churning in his gut. 

Steve blinks rapidly, swallows hard. "You're still here," he croaks, voice low and broken. 

Billy moves into the room, dropping onto the bed and placing a hand on Steve's knee. "I told you I wasn't going anywhere," he says. 

Steve sucks in a stuttered breath, his eyes tearing up. "You don't have to stay. After what I did-" he stops, taking another uneven breath; "I'm sorry, I just thought-. But I get it, I used to be-" he lets his sentence trail off; "I'm nothing now, I get it. You don't have to stay". 

Billy moves his hand from Steve's knee to settle over his jaw, just to get Steve to meet his eyes. 

"Do you remember what I said to you last night?" he asks, his voice coming out lower than he'd meant it to. 

Steve turns away, biting at his lips and refusing to meet Billy's eyes. "Look, I get it. You can't. I understand, you don't have to stay," he replies, the waver in his voice betraying his false bravado. 

Billy shakes his head, clenching his fists to hide the shaking. "No, after. Do you remember what I said after that," he says. 

Steve meets his eyes again, confused, and Billy waits, watching as Steve replays last night in his head. 

His eyes snap back to Billy's in seconds. 

Billy takes a deep steadying breath, trying to gather his nerves, but he still can't bring himself to meet Steve's eyes as he asks; "Do you still want me?". 

"Yes," Steve's answer comes without hesitation, and Billy feels the air punch out of his lungs. 

Billy leans forward, placing a hand on the back of Steve's neck and pulling him in until, finally, they're kissing. 

Steve tastes like morning breath and last night's liquor, and Billy is stupidly giddy, trying his hardest not to smile and break the kiss. Not wanting this moment to slip away. 

The smile wins out in the end and Billy rests their foreheads together to keep Steve close. The silence that settles around them is comfortable and Billy would give anything to live in this moment for the rest of his goddamn life. 

"Fuck pretty boy, you have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that," he comments. 

Steve huffs a laugh, "Just, whatever you do, don't tell Nancy. I think her and Jonathan have money on it," he replies, and Billy can't help but kiss him again. 

A yawn breaks it this time and Billy hums. "Alright, bed time pretty boy," he says. 

Steve scoffs. 

"Seriously? That's the last thing on my mind right now," he replies, and Billy couldn't miss the suggestive tone if he tried. 

He smirks, leaning in slow until their lips are a breath apart. "Too bad," he says, shifting to drop down on the empty side of the bed, making himself comfortable. 

Steve groans, dropping down onto his pillow dramatically. 

"Seriously Billy? You're gonna be the death of me," he mutters. Billy smirks. 

"But what a way to go," he comments, catching his tongue between his teeth, laughing when Steve buries his face in his pillow. "Night Stevie," he murmurs, smiling as Steve link's their hands.


	15. Chapter 15

Billy wakes up later with an arm slung over Steve’s waist and the sun warming his back. He doesn’t move, takes a deep breath and sinks further into the mattress.

He shifts closer to Steve feeling safe, warm.

“Are you awake?” Steve whispers.

“No. Go back to sleep,” Billy groans, tightening his arm around Steve’s waist.

Steve shifts, heaving an over dramatic sigh. “Billy, come on,” Steve whines.

Billy smirks into the pillows before turning onto his side, coming face to face with a pouting Steve. Billy meets his eyes and Steve goes red.

“I thought you wanted me awake pretty boy,” Billy laughs.

Steve glares, but Billy just keeps smirking, sliding a hand into his hair and pulling him into a kiss. When the kiss breaks Steve is red faced and smiling.

“Now, see, that’s why I wanted you awake,” Steve snarks, moving his arms over Billy’s shoulders.

Billy smirks again. “Is that all?” he asks.

Steve gives a wicked smirk as Billy pulls him closer, leaning into kiss him again.

They get lost in each other for a while, legs tangled in the sheets, hands everywhere, finally unafraid to touch.

Steve is the one to break the kiss, pulling back abruptly with a dopey grin.

“We should make french toast,” he announces.

That shocks a laugh out of Billy, but the look on Steve’s face has him agreeing immediately. Which is how he finds himself covered in egg, eating half burnt french toast, the kitchen a mess of eggshells and powdered sugar.

Steve drops the dirty dishes in the sink when they’re done eating, pulling himself up to sit on the one spot of counter that was untouched by their breakfast debacle.

“We should really clean up,” he says, looking at the mess around them with a grimace.

Billy smirks, situating himself in the space between Steve’s legs, one hand flat on the counter behind him, the other resting on Steve’s thigh.

“That’s not really what I had in mind pretty boy,” Billy replies, his voice low, dragging his eyes up Steve’s body slow and deliberate.

Steve doesn’t bother trying to hide his smirk, leaning into meet Billy in a kiss, tilting his head back so Billy can trail kisses down his neck to his collarbone and back up.

The kitchen gets cleaned, eventually.

Steve stumbles out of the weekend in a bit of a daze, still a little starstruck by the whole thing.

It was different with Billy than it had been with Nancy. The feelings were similar, sure; the _“I can’t believe this person chose me; I’m so fucking lucky”_ ; but with Nancy it felt like a constant battle to keep her interested. With Billy, it was different.

Billy had already seen him at his worst, and he hadn’t gone anywhere. It’s like, it doesn’t matter how fucked up Steve is, Billy will **still be there**.

The one, minor, downside to the weekend was how comfortable they’d gotten in each others personal space. Great when they’re alone, a completely different story while they’re in public.

When Billy approaches him, Nancy and Jonathan in the hallway between classes, Steve doesn’t give it a second thought, he doesn’t even stutter in his sentence as Billy starts patting him down, searching his pockets until he finds what he’s looking for, taking a cigarette between his lips before tucking the package back into Steve’s front pocket and walking off with a nod.

Steve only stops what he was saying when he notices the, peculiar looks, on Nancy and Jonathans faces.

“What?” he asks, oblivious.

Nancy shakes her head with a disbelieving scoff.

Jonathan clears his throat. “What-um. Just, what?” he asks.

Steve thinks for a minute before it actually occurs to him what Billy had just done.

“Oh, Billy?” he questions.

Nancy scoffs. _“Oh, Billy,”_ she mocks, glaring at him. “Yeah Steve, we’re just a bit confused by the fact that **Billy Hargrove** just patted you down in _the middle of the hallway_ , and you didn’t even pause to ask him why,” she adds. And, oh boy, if looks could kill, Steve would be a dead man walking.

“Um. Well, you see-” he draws a blank, he’s not sure there’s an easy way out of this.

The bell for the next class rings and Steve bolts for the doors, yelling; “I forgot my math book,” behind him.

“Really Hargrove? Feeling me up in the hallways?” Steve questions, raising an eyebrow at where Billy is leaned back against the Camaro.

Billy smirks, his cigarette between his lips. “Gotta have my fun somewhere,” he says, shrugging, offering Steve a cigarette, because _of course_ he’d already had one.

Steve walks forward, stepping between Billy’s legs and taking the offered cigarette.

Billy leans over the lighter in his hand to light his own cigarette, smirk still on his face, only for his smirk to drop immediately when Steve leans in too until they’re nose to nose, taking his time in lighting his own cigarette before backing up, still in Billy’s space, but not as close.

Billy huffs a laugh, shaking his head as he tucks his lighter back into his pocket, his cigarette still unlit between his lips.

“Now you’re just playing dirty,” Billy comments.

Steve gives him the most innocent look he can muster, exhaling a puff of smoke.

“Don’t give me that innocent look pretty boy, you aren’t foolin’ anyone,” Billy laughs.

He tucks his unlit cigarette behind his ear and snatches the one from between Steve’s lips; thinks about kissing him and takes in a lungful of smoke instead, blowing the smoke in Steve’s face with a smirk before turning to walk back towards the school.

“Now who’s playing dirty?” Steve scoffs behind him, just managing to kick him in the ass.

Billy laughs as he turns around, keeps walking backwards as he flicks the cigarette to the ground, Steve hurrying to keep up.

They walk in the building at the same time, and Billy knocks their shoulders together as they start down the hallway.

The look Steve gives him says _later_ and Billy flicks his eyebrows in understanding, biting at his bottom lip just to be an ass.

Steve rolls his eyes, but Billy sees the blush creeping up his neck as they part ways.

The rest of the school day passes with only the occasional _look_ from Nancy; she doesn’t say anything while they’re waiting for the kids either, which Steve can’t help but find suspicious.

Max tells them she’s going with Jane as they get in Jonathans car and Nancy laughs.

“I’ll bring her back later,” she says and Steve nods his thanks, not really worried about it.

The house is empty when he gets there, but he knew it would be, so he heads upstairs to take a shower, taking his time because he can, and dropping down onto his bed after, not really caring enough to do the things he should be.

He eventually gets up, clearing up the most obvious messes before deciding he’s done enough to make it passable and dropping down onto the couch.

Billy lets himself in a bit later raising an eyebrow at where Steve is laid out on the couch.

Steve offers a shrug at his look and Billy smirks, dropping his jacket on Steve’s head and going upstairs to shower.

Steve digs through Billy’s pockets for a cigarette calling to order a pizza as he lights it.

Billy is still upstairs when Nancy calls to say she’s on her way.

“Hey, Nance and the girls are on their way. Also, I ordered pizza,” Steve says, making his way up the stairs.

Once he reaches his room Billy wastes no time before pinning Steve back against the door.

“Seriously Billy? Nancy is gonna be here in like, ten minutes,” Steve comments, but he makes no move to push Billy away.

“Then we have seven,” Billy replies, trailing his lips up Steve’s neck.

Steve takes a stuttered breath, tilting his head back so Billy has easier access.

“Wh-. What are we gonna do in seven minutes that will keep you from jumping me while Nancy is here?” he asks, his voice breathy.

Billy smirks against his skin. “Well, if you’d shut up we could find out,” he says, and Steve drags him into a kiss.

Nancy honks as she pulls in the driveway and Steve breaks the kiss, glaring slightly at the amusement on Billy’s face as Steve tries desperately to tame his hair.

Steve is barely down the stairs before Max is pulling the door open, Nancy and Jane in tow.

Steve rights his sweater and looks up to find Nancy looking him up and down.

“Hey Steve-” Nancy starts, walking closer as Max and Jane dart up the stairs behind them.

Steve offers a small wave, on edge as she takes in his appearance; her eyes catching at his neck, a small smirk playing over her lips.

“-what you got there?” she questions, playing innocent as she pokes Steve’s visible hickey.

“We are **NOT** talking about it!” Steve yells, going red, slapping a hand over the mark.

That, of course, is when Billy finally decides to make his way downstairs. He’s very clearly disheveled, his shirt unbuttoned exposing his chest.

He gives Nancy a nod as he walks over to grab a cigarette from his jacket.

Steve sees the hickey, right above Billy’s exposed collarbone; he couldn’t miss it if he tried, considering Billy is practically shirtless and doing nothing to hide it.

Steve also sees the exact moment Nancy starts connecting the dots, and he rushes to push her towards the door.

“Okay Nance, time to go. Thanks for dropping the girls off; bye,” he says, ignoring her protests as he ushers her out the door, shutting it behind her.

“What was that about?” Billy asks, cigarette between his lips.

Steve gives him an unimpressed look, crossing the living room to jab a fingers into the hickey Billy is flaunting, exposing his own.

“You are going to get us found out, if they don’t know already,” Steve says.

Billy smirks, cupping a hand around Steve’s shoulder, rubbing his thumb over the hickey on Steve’s neck.

“C’mon pretty boy, I think it looks good. In fact, you might need a matching set,” he comments, catching his bottom lip between his teeth and dropping his eyes to Steve’s exposed neck.

Steve swallows hard, his neck going red, glaring a bit when Billy laughs.

They’re interrupted by the doorbell and Billy smiles wide. “I’ll get it,” he says, not giving Steve a chance to argue as he makes his way to the door, shirt still open.

Steve sighs, shaking his head. The things he has to put up with.

The girls come downstairs just long enough to grab pizza before retreating back to the bedroom, giggling the entire way.

Steve and Billy eat in companionable silence, lazing about in the living room for a while before deciding to head upstairs.

They drop into Steve's bed exchanging lazy kisses, soft music and giggles from the other room keeping them from going further. 

Steve would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised at Billy's willingness to just, _be_ in each others space without needing anything else. It's nice, he can feel himself getting used to it already.

He wakes up late the next day to an empty bed and a quiet house, finding a note scrawled out in Billy's handwriting in the space next to him.

_Pretty Boy, went into work. The sheriff picked Jane and Max up, they're with him for the night. I'll see you when I get back._

Steve smiles at the note, rolling over to get comfortable again, not in any real hurry to get up.

There's dishes from last night that need done, and his room could use cleaning, but he'll get to that. For now he sinks further into his pillows with a sigh, content where he is.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna put a warning here for homophobic language(Neil being his lovely self). Enjoy!

Steve is in the shower when he hears Billy let himself in, and he can't help but smile as he shuts off the water and gets out, drying his body as fast as he can before pulling on a pair of sweats and taking off down the stairs.

Billy is waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the back of the couch with a smirk on his face, and Steve closes the distance between them without hesitation, his arms over Billy's shoulders.

"Mmm, you didn't have to rush out of the shower for me, I woulda found my way to you eventually," Billy tells him, settling a hand at the back of Steve's neck, his fingers in Steve's hair.

"I'll remember that next time," Steve replies, letting Billy pull him into a kiss.

What started as an innocent greeting turns heated fast, Billy dropping a hand to Steve's hip and squeezing. Steve breaks the kiss with a helpless little laugh, dragging his teeth along his bottom lip and glancing up at Billy.

Billy lets out a groan, his hand sliding down to cup Steve’s ass. “Pretty boy, keep lookin’ at me like that and you’re gonna need another shower,” he says.

Steve smiles, keeps looking at him. “That a promise Hargrove?” he teases.

“You wanna find out?” Billy shoots back, groping at Steve’s ass.

Steve drags Billy into another kiss with both hands on the collar of his jacket, and Billy moves his other hand to join the one on Steve’s ass, making Steve laugh, breaking the kiss.

“Come on,” Steve says, sliding his hands down Billy’s chest and taking a step back.

Billy pulls him back in by his waistband, trapping him with another kiss that Steve eventually breaks, a smile on his face at Billy’s annoyed huff.

“Come on,” he repeats.

“No, c’mon pretty boy, where you goin’?” Billy asks.

Steve meets his eyes with his smile still in place. “I’m going upstairs. You’re welcome to stay here though,” he replies, his smile dropping to a smirk as Billy practically jumps up to follow him.

Billy is on him as soon as the door closes behind them and Steve is smiling into the kiss as he pushes Billy’s jacket off his shoulders. Billy doesn’t even break the kiss, simply letting his jacket fall to the floor before settling his hands back at Steve’s waist.

He breaks the kiss just enough to speak when Steve immediately starts unbuttoning his shirt.

“You want me naked that bad Harrington?” he asks with a teasing smirk, an eyebrow raised.

Steve looks up from the buttons, still undoing them. “Are you complaining?” he replies.

Billy shakes his head lightly, capturing Steve’s lips in another kiss and untucking his shirt so Steve can finish the buttons.

As soon as it’s unbuttoned Billy’s shirt joins his jacket on the floor and he pushes Steve back onto the bed before he can unbutton anything else.

Steve situates himself against the pillows as Billy undoes his belt and drops it with everything else before joining Steve on the bed, kneeling between his legs, his hands on Steve’s thighs, dragging his eyes up Steve’s exposed torso.

“You just gonna sit there and stare?” Steve questions, an eyebrow raised, an expectant look on his face.

Billy smirks, amused, and flicks his tongue over his bottom lip. He shrugs. “Is there something else you want me to do?” he teases.

Steve rolls his eyes, apparently not in the mood for teasing, and sits up into Billy’s space, dropping his arms over Billy’s shoulders and pulling him into another, heated, kiss.

Billy returns the kiss happily, moving one hand to the back of Steve’s neck, sliding it into his hair.

Steve shifts them, moving until he’s on his back again, Billy hovering over him.

“Honestly Hargrove, do I have to spell it out for you?” he teases, sliding one hand down Billy’s chest, stopping at the waistband of his jeans.

Billy smirks, kisses Steve again. “No, but teasing is half the fun,” he replies, kissing Steve again to keep him from arguing.

They get lost for a bit before Steve’s impatience comes back in full force.

Steve flicks open the button on Billy’s jeans, ignoring the zipper in favor of getting his hands on Billy.

“Seriously, do you own a pair of underwear?” Steve asks when his hand meets bare skin.

Billy’s responding laugh is choked off as Steve wraps a hand around his dick, thumb resting just under the head.

“Teasing is half the fun right?” Steve comments, and Billy scoffs a laugh.

Steve drags his thumb up over the head of Billy’s dick and back, just _barely_ touching, and Billy’s breath hitches, his hips twitching into the contact. He reaches over to his nightstand while he has Billy distracted, fishing the lube out of the drawer and dropping it onto the bed beside him.

He makes less of a mess than he was expecting when he switches one hand out for the other and counts it as a win when Billy drops his head into the crook of Steve’s neck and rolls his hips, Steve’s, now slick, hand dragging the length of Billy’s cock.

Billy rolls his shoulders, kissing down Steve’s neck and sucking a hickey into the skin over Steve’s collarbone.

Steve thrills a little at the thought of someone seeing it, but he’s quick to push that thought from his mind, unwilling to dwell on it for too long.

Billy drags his lips up Steve’s neck, dropping an occasional kiss as he goes, until he makes it back to Steve’s lips, capturing them in a deep kiss. Steve returns the kiss with fervor, tightening his hand around Billy’s cock slightly, smirking when Billy’s hips jerk forward.

Billy nips at Steve’s lips to get rid of the smirk and moves one hand to settle over the inside of Steve’s thigh, making Steve squirm.

When Billy doesn’t do anything else Steve shifts his wrist, dragging his hand up and down the length of Billy’s cock in slow strokes, smirking again when Billy shifts into the movement.

Billy’s hand on his thigh is a purposeful distraction that Steve is trying not to focus on, so he isn’t expecting it when Billy moves his hand up, pressing his thumb to the base of Steve’s dick.

It’s a gentle pressure, but it makes Steve squirm all the same, rolling his hips into the contact.

Billy teases him for a minute, keeping up the gentle pressure just to make him squirm, before dragging the waistband of his sweats down and, _finally_ , wrapping a hand around him.

Steve is shameless, rolling his hips into the touch and sucking in a breath at the first slow stroke. He groans deep in his throat when Billy, almost immediately, speeds up his strokes.

The friction, just this side of too much, makes Steve's toes curl, and he shifts his hips into the movement helplessly. He lets out a little whine when Billy adds a twist to the up stroke and Billy sweeps him into another kiss with a smile.

It's more breath than kissing, Steve already too far gone to put much effort into it as that familiar pressure coils just behind his balls.

He lets out another broken whine as he thrusts into the movement of Billy's hand, dragging his thumb up over the head of Billy's dick again as he speeds up his strokes, trying to give as good as he's getting.

“Fuck,” Billy groans, a hitch in his breath, the tightening of his hand and one solid roll of his hips all the warning Steve gets before Billy's orgasm hits and he's spilling into Steve’s hand, making a mess between them.

Steve is so focused on Billy that his own orgasm takes him a bit by surprise, his breath catching and his spine arching into the contact as his dick twitches, cum adding to the mess that's already between them.

Billy rubs a thumb just under the head of Steve’s cock and the air punches out of Steve’s lungs at the feeling, a whine bubbling up his throat as Billy drags the tip of his tongue up Steve’s neck, catching his earlobe between his teeth before Steve decides he’s had enough and pulls Billy into a proper kiss.

They’re still kissing as they come down, catching their breath between kisses as their heart rates steady.

Steve whines halfheartedly when Billy pulls away to grab one of Steve’s discarded t-shirts off the floor, cleaning up most of the obvious mess before dropping it back off the edge of the bed and shifting to lay more fully over Steve.

It’s late, the cool air making its way in the slightly open window; but it was late when Billy first showed up, past midnight already, and he knows he really should go.

“Stay,” Steve comments, seemingly sensing what Billy is thinking; hands coming up over Billy’s shoulders to hold him in place.

Billy smiles into their next kiss before shifting and dropping down in the spot next to Steve.

Steve curls into Billy’s side, his head on Billy’s shoulder, an arm thrown around his waist as he makes himself comfortable, pinning Billy in place.

The smile on Billy’s face goes soft as he runs a hand through Steve’s hair, Steve drifting off as he does. Billy’s eyes droop shut as he lay there and he really doesn’t see the problem with staying just a little longer.

He falls asleep comfortable and relaxed with Steve snoozing half on top of him.

A few hours have passed when Billy wakes up next, Steve already awake next to him and Billy stretches his arms above his head as he wakes up more.

Steve gets real quiet as Billy sits up, moving to the edge of the bed and grabbing his shirt off the floor. Which isn't unusual, but something about this silence sets Billy on edge.

They've been doing, whatever the fuck this is, for almost a month now, things have been good. Now's about the time things should go to hell. 

Billy looks over his shoulder at Steve, finds him pouting, staring at the ceiling like it offended him. 

"Problem?" Billy asks, not trusting himself to say much more. 

Maybe he'd done something. Moved too fast, taken it too far. Maybe Steve finally realized he's way out of Billy's league.

Steve shrugs, looking down at his hands. "I don't know," he mumbles. 

Billy scoffs, pulling his shirt on over his shoulders. "Clearly something's bothering you, so spit it out pretty boy," he says, doing up a few buttons. When he looks up Steve is looking at him, and Billy raises an eyebrow to tell him to get on with it.

Steve looks hesitant, but opens his mouth anyway. "Do you ever-" he stops, shaking his head as he sits up, running a hand through his hair. "No, you know what, forget it. It's stupid. Forget I said anything," he says.

Billy rolls his eyes. "Not even pretty boy. You started it, now finish it," he replies.

Steve takes a deep breath in and holds, one hand still tangled in his hair as he tries to look anywhere but at Billy. "Do-" he stops, clears his throat, starts again; "do you ever-". He stops again and Billy stands.

"Fuck Harrington, spit it out already," Billy tells him.

Steve opens and closes his mouth for a few seconds before growling. "Do you ever think about me when we're not, together," he finally blurts. Billy goes still, Steve notices, his face flushing in embarrassment. "Fuck, I don't know. I just-, I just want to know what this is, like, what are we even doing?" he adds, sounding desperate.

Billy raises his eyebrows and pulls a cigarette out of the pack in his shirt pocket, placing it between his lips. "I don't know, I mean, I thought what we were doin' was pretty obvious, but if you need me to walk you through it," he stops, unable to hide his smirk, and Steve chucks a pillow at him.

"Fuck off, I'm serious," he says.

Billy shrugs; "I know," he says, digging his lighter out of his pocket and flicking it a few times. "I just-. I mean, fuck, what do you want me to say Harrington? Of course I fucking think about you, how could I not? I mean, fuck, look at you," he adds, taking a minute to do just that.

Billy trails his eyes from Steve's face, down his neck, across his exposed chest, down to where the sheet is settled around his hips, and back up again. 

Steve blushes at the attention, dropping back onto the pillows and pulling the sheet over his face. 

"Never mind, forget I said anything, it was stupid," he mumbles.

Billy smirks, tucking his cigarette behind his ear and crawling back onto the bed on his knees, stopping with one leg on either side of Steve's thighs.

"Stevie, hey, look at me," he says.

Steve shakes his head no, the sheet still held firmly in place.

"Oh c'mon baby," Billy adds, a pout to his voice, tugging at the sheet.

Steve sighs as he lets Billy pull the sheet away from his face, only to put his hands up in its place.

Billy huffs a laugh, pulling at Steve's wrists until Steve gives up and lets Billy pin them to the mattress.

Billy let's himself look, once he can actually see Steve's face again, and he loves the way the blush highlights Steve's cheekbones. "I don't know why you're embarrassed, you gotta know what you look like, I can't be the first person to tell you," he says.

Steve squirms a bit, dropping his eyes from Billy's face and shrugging.

"It's different, hearing it from you," he says, his voice low, like he doesn't want Billy to hear.

"Why?" Billy asks, genuinely curious.

Steve gives him a look like it should be obvious. "Because, I don't give a shit what anybody else thinks I look like," he admits.

Billy smirks again, moving one of his hands to cradle Steve's jaw.

"Well, in that case, I guess I should tell you what I really think," he says, dragging a thumb over Steve's bottom lip and leaning closer, looking right in his eyes.

"Because I think you're the best damn thing about this shithole town," Billy tells him. 

And this close he can see the way that affects Steve. He sees the confusion cross his face, followed by disbelief, then embarrassment, and finally a hard swallow, and the shine of tears that means acceptance.

Billy leans in, pressing a kiss to his lips, and Steve brings his free hand up to tangle in Billy's hair, returning the kiss like he's desperate, whining in the back of his throat when Billy eventually pulls away.

Billy sits up and Steve follows him, pulling him into another kiss that's broken when Billy can't stop his smile.

"I gotta go babe, I told you," Billy says, resting their foreheads together, his hands on Steve's face, one thumb dragging over Steve's bottom lip.

Steve whines again, meeting Billy's eyes as he catches Billy's thumb between his teeth, biting down lightly.

"Stay," he says, his voice low.

And, fuck, Billy wants to. He groans as he pulls Steve into another heated kiss, Steve's free hand moving to Billy's neck.

"Fuck. You're killing me pretty boy," Billy tells him, breathing hard as he breaks the kiss.

"Stay," Steve says again, dragging his hand from Billy's neck down his chest.

God, Billy wishes he could, he's more than tempted to just say "fuck it" and stay anyway. But he's stayed too long already.

"I can't. You know I can't, as much as I fucking want to," Billy says, and Steve kisses him again.

"It's two thirty in the morning," Steve tells him.

Billy nods, going in for another kiss. "I know, I know. But I gotta be home before he gets up for work or my ass is done for," he replies, shifting reluctantly to pull away and get up.

Steve is hesitant to let him go, but he does.

"I'll be back," Billy promises, unable to resist one more kiss before he heads out the door and down the stairs, a smile on his face the whole way.

Billy's good mood lasts the entire ride home, but the persistent smile drops from his face the second he looks up at the house and sees a light on in the living room.

It's going on three thirty in the morning, he was counting on everyone being asleep.

He considers turning around, going back to his car, and taking Steve up on his offer to stay, but he knows it'll only make it worse later if he doesn't come home.

He really hope's Neil just fell asleep watching TV.

He opens the door as quietly as possible and his stomach sinks when he sees Neil in his recliner, awake. He takes a few more steps into the living room, hoping he can make it out of here without too many injuries.

"Where the hell you been boy?" Neil asks, obviously drunk.

Billy's shoulders go tight, every instinct in his body telling him to run. "Couldn't sleep, went for a drive," he says.

Neil scoffs, sitting up in the recliner, his elbows on his knees. "You ain't lying to me, are you boy?" he slurs.

"No sir," Billy replies.

Neil regards him with thinly veiled amusement as he lights a cigarette, taking a long drag before speaking again. "You want to know what I think?" he asks, not giving Billy time to answer before he adds; "I think you are lying". 

Billy's heartrate kicks up, his eyes darting to the front door, when Neil gets up out of his chair and starts towards him.

"I think you been lying since we got into this shitty little town," Neil tells him, stopping at the edge of the coffee table, maybe ten steps from Billy.

"No sir," Billy repeats, his jaw clenched.

Neil chuckles, a mean, grating thing that makes Billy's blood go cold, and grabs his beer off the table, finishing it. "So you ain't lying to me?" he questions.

"No sir," Billy says again, visibly flinching when Neil drops something on the table in front of them, the small metallic "ting" loud in the tense silence around them.

"The fuck is this then boy?" Neil spits.

Billy looks down at the table and his heart stops. It's the key. It's the fucking key to Steve's house. Billy tries not to let anything show on his face, but he knows he'll be lucky to make it out of this one breathing.

"You see, I noticed you been going on a lot of "drives" lately, and then I found this hidden in your room, so I followed you. It didn't take me long to put it together after that," he says, setting the empty beer can on the table. 

Billy takes a deep breath, braces himself for what he knows is coming, and Neil grabs him by the hair, yanking him closer.

"I let you back into my house, and this is how you repay me? Whoring yourself out to some yuppie faggot?" He yells, his grip on Billy's hair tightening.

Billy doesn't bother denying it, knows Neil wouldn't listen to him if he tried, he just takes a deep breath and meets Neil's eyes with as much of a glare as he can muster. "Fuck off," he grits out between clenched teeth.

Neil throws him to the ground, towering over him now. "Don't you fucking speak to me like that in my house," he roars, kicking Billy solidly in the stomach. "I'm gonna beat the fag right out of you, there ain't no room for your kind in this world boy," he spits, kicking Billy again.

He stays quiet, curls in on himself and tries to protect his head.

Neil lands a few more kicks to Billy's back and ribs before reaching down and yanking Billy off the floor, shoving him back against the wall, a hand around his throat. He manages one solid hit to Billy's jaw before he covers his head again.

"Won't do you no good to hide boy," Neil says, almost taunting, as his hand tightens around Billy's throat.

Billy drops his hands to Neil's arm, fighting for air.

Neil sneers. "Maybe I'll go visit that yuppie when I'm done with you. He didn't look like he had a lot of fight in him, wouldn't take long at all," he says.

Billy panics, kicking out and just catching Neil's knee. Billy barely takes the time to gasp in a breath before he grabs Neil's wrist and elbow and shoves, sending him backwards over the coffee table.

The room goes silent, still, as Neil groans from his spot on the floor, struggling into a seated position and glaring daggers at Billy.

Billy stands taller and squares his shoulders as Neil sizes him up. "You won't fucking touch him," he spits, his voice rough.

There's a moment of stunned silence before Neil starts trying to get up again, cursing and spitting, and Billy takes that as his cue and bolts for his Camaro.

Steve is almost asleep when he hears the unmistakable sound of the Camaro pulling into the driveway, and he can't help but smile to himself when he hears the door open and footsteps up the stairs.

"You just couldn't stay away could you?" Steve says when his bedroom door opens.

"Guess not," Billy says, ducking into the bathroom, and Steve makes a face. Something was, off.

He stood from the bed and walked towards the bathroom door as quietly as possible. "Billy?" he questions, pushing the door until it swings open.

Billy is standing at the sink, trying and failing to wipe blood off his face with a tissue.

Steve steps further into the bathroom, grabbing a washcloth and getting it wet before getting closer to Billy, taking the tissue from him and carefully using the washcloth to wipe away the blood.

They're quiet, though the silence is anything but comfortable, and Steve waits until the blood is gone before speaking up.

"What happened?" he asks, though he already knows the answer.

Billy scoffs. "I'll give you two guesses," he says, confirming what Steve already knows.

Steve drops the washcloth into the sink, clenching his fists. "I'll kill him. I'm gonna fucking kill him," he growls, turning for the door. Billy grabs him before he can get too far.

"No, you're not. Relax pretty boy, I'm fine. I've taken worse beatings than this for stupider reasons," Billy tells him.

"Just because you're used to it, doesn't mean you're fine," Steve replies. 

Billy drops his wrist, but Steve doesn't let him get too far, catching Billy's face between his hands and leaning their foreheads together.

"It's bullshit that he does this to you," Steve says, dragging a thumb across Billy's cheekbone. "You don't have to go back there you know," he adds, his voice low.

Billy huffs a laugh, wrapping a hand around one of Steve's wrists. "Is that an invitation pretty boy?" he asks, his voice rough.

Steve shrugs. "Yeah. I mean, why not?" he replies.

Billy laughs. "Maybe because we're in high school, and this is your parents house," he says.

"So what? They're never here anyway, they won't notice," Steve tells him, pressing in closer when Billy just rolls his eyes. "No, come on, I'm serious. Who cares if we're in high school Billy, I-". 

Billy cuts him off, squeezing his eyes shut and tightening his grip on Steve's wrist. 

"Don't, Steve. Just, please don't," he says, his voice low.

It's the plea that makes Steve stop, swallowing the words he so desperately wants to say. He waits a few minutes for Billy to calm down before he speaks again.

"It doesn't matter. If you don't want to stay here I'm sure Hop has a place, or Joyce," Steve tells him, whispering.

Billy scoffs. "It's not about stayin' here Stevie; you know I can't just leave Max," he says.

"You said yourself that Susan won't let him do anything to her," Steve replies.

Billy presses closer, his whole face scrunching, like he's thinking about it, but he just shakes his head.

"No. That won't last. I have to be there, I can't let him hurt her," he says.

Steve sighs, thinks about arguing but decides against it, shifting so he can press a soft kiss to Billy's lips.

"Okay. It's okay. Just, come here when it gets really bad, both of you," Steve tells him, and Billy nods. 

"Promise me," Steve adds, just in case.

That gets a smile out of Billy, as he leans in for another kiss. "I promise," he says, and Steve breathes a sigh of relief.

They don't say anything else as Steve leads them back into the bedroom, dropping onto the bed as soon as he's close enough and looking at Billy expectantly.

Billy rolls his eyes, a smirk on his face as he strips down to his underwear and joins Steve in bed.

They get comfortable, sharing a few more lazy kisses before settling down, Steve's head on Billy's chest, Billy's hand in Steve's hair.

 _"I love you,"_ Steve thinks, pressing a kiss to Billy's bare collarbone, careful not to say it out loud and ruin this. 

The way Billy's arm tightens around him as he kisses Steve's temple, almost like he knows what Steve is thinking, is more than enough, and Steve drifts off to sleep with a warmth settling in his chest.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates, and early even, because I'm terrible at updating on time! Sorry again, but I hope you enjoy!

Steve has just barely stepped into his boxers when the bathroom door opens.

“Hey, hey, knoc-” he starts, stopping when he sees Billy. “I thought you were one of the kids asshole,” he comments, his towel still around his waist.

Billy smirks, pushing the door shut and snatching the towel from Steve, disappointed to see Steve’s boxers.

“Why were you covering yourself with a towel when you have your boxers on?” Billy asks, pulling himself up to sit on the counter.

Steve laughs, sauntering forward to stand between Billy’s legs.

“Well, if you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was-” he’s interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Steve, can you take us to the arcade? Everybody is meeting there,” Max calls through the door.

Steve drops his head to Billy’s shoulder with a sigh.

“Yeah, just uh, give me a minute to get ready,” he replies.

“Jane, he says he’ll take us,” Max calls, leaving Steve’s room, pulling the door shut behind her.

Billy laughs, tangling a hand in Steve’s hair and pulling him into a kiss.

“Any chance you wanna come to the arcade?” Steve asks, pulling back from the kiss.

“Tempting,” Billy comments, pulling him into another kiss. “But I have to work,” he adds.

Steve pouts. “Fine, be that way. Maybe come by after? I’m sure we’ll still be there,” he says.

Billy smirks, drags him into another kiss, sliding down off the counter and turning them so he can pin Steve against it.

“I’ll think about it,” he offers finally, watching the heave of Steve’s chest, the blush that chases across his cheeks.

 _“Asshole,”_ Steve mouths as Billy exits the bathroom.

Billy winks and purses his lips into a kiss before turning to leave Steve’s room.

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t planning on staying at the arcade. Because, while he may not have actually planned to stay, he knew Dustin would ask, and with Billy at work, he wasn’t gonna tell the kid no.

So that’s where he is, still, a few hours later when Billy shows up.

He stops to talk to Jane, but Steve still notices the second he looks up at him.

They lock eyes briefly before Billy looks towards the back hall, flicking an eyebrow up. Steve nods in response, waiting until Billy is out of sight before he heads that way himself.

Billy pulls him in almost immediately, one hand on Steve’s hip, the other cupping his jaw.

“Been waitin’ all day to get my hands on you,” Billy murmurs.

Steve thrills at the thought; that Billy has been thinking about him all day, _wanting him_.

They’re both too enraptured by the kiss to hear the door open, but the gasp that follows has them practically jumping apart.

Max is standing at the door, shock clear on her face, her cheeks pink.

“Fuck,” Billy spits, shattering the silence.

“No, Billy, I didn’t-” Max starts.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Billy says, pushing past Max and making a beeline to the exit.

Max sighs, her eyes tearing slightly as he walks away. “I’m sorry Steve, I didn’t know,” she says, a tear spilling down her cheek.

“Hey, Max, it’s okay; it’ll be okay,” Steve tells her, trying to calm her down.

“How do you know?” she sniffles.

He shrugs. “I’ll talk to him, everything will be fine,” he replies.

She nods, wiping her eyes. “He’ll probably be at the reservoir. He goes there sometimes,” she offers, eyes on the ground.

“Thanks,” Steve says. “Can you get a ride back?” he asks.

Max nods, offering a small smile as he walks off.

Sure enough, Steve finds Billy at the reservoir, sitting on the hood of the Camaro smoking and throwing rocks over the edge.

“What are you doing here Harrington?” Billy asks when he notices.

Steve was expecting the change.

“Figured we should talk,” he says. “Look Billy, it was an accident, Max isn’t gonna say anything,” he adds.

Billy scoffs. “Right. Sure she isn’t,” he replies, sliding down off the hood of the Camaro with a scowl.

“Fuck,” he yells. “It’s just like last time. One fucking slip up,” he adds, still yelling, kicking at the ground.

“Billy-” Steve tries.

Billy shakes his head. “We gotta stop. We can’t do this anymore, I can’t risk it,” he says.

“Billy,” Steve repeats.

“No, Steve, you don’t understand; I can’t,” Billy says, despereation bleeding into his voice, his eyes cloudy when he looks up at Steve. 

“He’ll kill you. I can’t risk that,” he adds, his voice low. 

“He’s already threatened, and now Max knows. I can’t take the chance, not after last time,” he says, almost like he’s talking to himself.

“Billy, calm down. We can talk about this, it’ll be okay,” Steve tries, but something is telling him it’s too late.

When Billy finally looks up at him Steve _sees_ the change the instant it happens. It’s like Billy is putting on a mask; and suddenly it’s not _Billy_ in front of him anymore, it’s _Hargrove_ and Steve feels himself deflate.

“What are you still doing here Harrington? I said I was done with you. I’ve had my fun, everyone knows that’s all you’re good for,” he spits, his voice breaking at the end.

Steve’s eyes fill with tears, but he doesn’t say anything as he returns to his car.

Billy watches him drive away, bites his tongue until he tastes blood.

“Fuck,” he yells again, kicking a nice dent into the door of his Camaro.

Steve doesn’t go home, he can’t face the empty house. Instead he drives to the bar on the other side of town. He sits in his car in the parking lot until his tears stop, smoking through two cigarettes in the process.

He flicks his cigarette butt out the window and gets out, making his way to the trunk, keeping his eyes locked on his target.

Steve only hesitates for a moment before grabbing the crowbar and starting across the lot.

It’s loud enough, dark enough, no one should notice; not that Steve cares really.

The first swing is cathartic; the sound of the crowbar against the hood of Neils car is music to Steve’s ears. But he doesn’t stop there. It’s like a dam breaking, like all the shit he’s been through has been building up to this, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Swing after swing, dent after dent, each one more satisfying than the last. His vision clouds with tears and he mutters a quiet _“fuck”_ under his breath.

The last hit is the best, the crowbar crashing into the windshield, leaving a huge spider web of cracks across it.

High on adrenaline Steve doesn’t think twice, scrawling a quick; _“XOXO- SH”_ on a napkin before tucking it against the drivers side window and making his way back to his car.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN. 
> 
> Sorry about the wait folks, I'm really bad at this...Enjoy!

Billy gets home late, expecting Neils anger, unsurprised when he’s shoved back against the wall almost as soon as he’s in the door, taking the beating without a fight simply because he’s tired.

He’s so tired, of all of it. The screaming, the beatings, the constant fear that every little thing will set him off. Mostly he’s tired of pretending.

Billy is abruptly snapped back to the moment when he hits the ground, thinking, maybe this is it, maybe this will be the time Neil finally kills him.

Neil hovers over him, practically foaming at the mouth as he screams. Something about “trashed my fucking car,” and “fucking fairy boy”. Billy honestly isn’t listening, tuning everything out until all he hears is a pleasant white noise.

Billy doesn’t even flinch when Neil hauls him back up against the wall, shoving a piece of paper into his chest and spitting in his face.

He’s still in a haze, waiting for the beating to start back up, when he sees Max, face a mess of tears, come charging up behind Neil, skateboard in hand.

He opens his mouth to warn her off, but he doesn’t get the chance.

She rears back, face twisted in anger, and slams her skateboard into Neils back.

Everything is still for a moment, a tense silence overtaking the room.

Max is the one to break it. “Let him go,” she spits.

Neils movements are stiff, no doubt feeling that hit, but Billy still acts quick to keep him away from her.

He straightens up, squaring his shoulders a bit, and shoves Neil back.

“What? You ain’t had enough yet boy?” Neil spits.

“Leave her the fuck alone,” Billy replies, teeth clenched.

Neil shakes his head, grabbing a fistful of Billy’s shirt.

“That’s enough Neil!” Susan yells from the doorway of the kitchen.

Neil doesn’t move. “You don’t tell me how to discipline my son,” he says.

“Let him go right now and get out of my house,” she yells back, voice shaking.

Neil laughs.

“Do it now, or I’m calling the cops,” she adds, phone in hand.

Neil’s confidence wavers slightly.

“Now Neil, right now!” she screams.

He shoves Billy back into the wall hard. “Alright woman, I’m going. Don’t get hysterical,” he growls. “If I ever see that yuppie faggot again, you’re both dead,” he adds to Billy, under his breath before stomping out of the house.

Billy stays long enough to see Susan lock the door behind Neil before heading to his room.

He’s alone for a while before he hears footsteps up the stairs.

“I’m not in the mood Max,” Billy groans as soon as his bedroom door opens, dragging his pillow over his face.

The door clicks shut, but he can still feel her staring at him.

“What happened?” she asks in a small voice.

Billy scoffs, he can’t help it, something hot and angry twisting in his gut. He clenches his fists against his anger and takes measured breaths until he calms down.

“You know what happened,” he says.

She sniffles and he bites his tongue. Fuck him if he’s gonna treat her like shit again.

“I’m not asking about what happened with Neil,” she says.

Billy’s entire body goes tense. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, voice as monotone as he can make it.

He knows exactly what she’s talking about.

She scoffs. “I’m not an idiot Billy, I know what’s been going on between you two,” she tells him.

He sits up fast, ignores how dizzy it makes him, and meets her eyes.

“You really don’t,” he says, and though he wants it to come out challenging, mean, it comes out closer to a plea.

She crosses her arms over her chest, dropping her eyes to her sneakers. He notices the red around her eyes, the tears still clinging to her lashes.

“I know you’ve been happy, and I know it was because of Steve,” she tells him.

He swallows hard. He knew she was smart, he would have to be an idiot to think she didn’t know _something_ about them. Hell, she probably knew before they figured it out themselves.

“I know that’s where you’ve been spending all your spare time, and I know it’s none of my business, but I just want to know what happened after the arcade,” she says. She still won’t look at him. He doesn’t blame her, he feels like shit, he can only imagine he looks worse.

He sighs and drops back onto his bed. “I fucked up is what happened,” he tells her. “But hey, what else is new right,” he adds.

The mattress dips slightly as she sits down at the edge of his bed.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” she replies.

Billy gives a dry, humorless laugh, burying one hand in the curls at the top of his head and pulling. “I treated him like shit Max. You’re not supposed to do that to the people you love,” he says, without thinking.

His eyes shift over to Max once the words register in his head and he sees her sit up straighter and purse her lips.

His admission hangs heavy and he lets the air prickle around them. He’s afraid to move, let alone speak.

She shifts, turning slightly in place to look back at him, but he keeps his eyes fixed on the ceiling.

“Apologize,” she says, finally.

He rolls his eyes. “What? Max, that’s not gonna-”

“You love him right?” she interrupts. He goes quiet again. “So apologize. He’ll understand Billy, he knows how you get,” she says. “Besides, he took a crowbar to Neils car and left a calling card, so I feel like you two should talk,” she adds, sounding a bit smug.

Billy takes a minute to let that information sink in. He makes a face at the ceiling. An apology won’t help, not after what he said. But she’s still right, the brat. Steve deserves an apology.

“Yeah, fine. You’re right,” he mutters, deciding she doesn’t need to know the whole truth.

He sees her smile out of the corner of his eye.

“So, what are you waiting for? Go talk to him,” she says after a minute.

He sits up to look at her this time, so she can see how crazy he thinks she is by the look on his face.

“It’s fucking midnight Max,” he says.

She shrugs. “And? Billy, this is important. Go, I’ll cover for you if my mom asks,” she replies.

He’s shaking his head no before she’s even done talking. “No, no way. If Neil comes back later and I’m not here you and your mom are both fucking dead,” he tells her.

She turns to glare at him. “I took his house key before he left, and after what he did mom won’t let him in even if he does come home,” she says. “Now go, or I’ll push you out the window myself,” she adds.

He stays where he is, giving her a challenging look, and she gets that look on her face. That “I am not to be fucked with” look, so he put his hands up in surrender.

“Alright, jesus, fine. I’ll fucking go,” he says, standing from his bed and grabbing his jacket. He considers going out the front door, just because it would be easier than the window, but even if Neil isn’t here to hassel him, Billy isn’t stupid enough to think Susan will just let him walk out looking like he does.

He pulls the window open and climbs out onto the roof. “Hey shithead,” he calls back, leaning on the window.

Max turns to glare at him and he smirks.

“Thanks,” he says, and her glare drops. “I knew you liked me,” he tacks on for good measure.

She rolls her eyes. “Just leave, you fucking loser,” she scoffs.

He hears her laughing as he jumps down from the roof and he smiles to himself. Having a little sister maybe wasn’t as awful as he originally thought.

He’s nervous the whole way there, tapping his ring against the steering wheel and bouncing the leg that isn’t on the gas pedal.

What the fuck is he supposed to say? “I’m sorry,”? Like that’ll change the fact that he was a total asshole.

What if Steve doesn’t want to talk to him? What if he isn’t home? What if he doesn’t let Billy in? He has the key, but, he won’t use it, not now.

He pushes those thoughts out of his mind as he turns onto Steve’s street. He’ll apologize, like Max said, like he knows he needs to. If that doesn’t work, he’ll figure it out from there.

He slows down as he gets closer to the house, coming to a complete stop when he sees an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

He sees it’s a BMW and rules out all the usual suspects, not even Tommy drives a fucking BMW. That’s when he notices the porch light. Off, for the first time since he’d started coming here.

_“When it’s off his parents are home, and it’s a toss up on who you’ll get”._

“Fuck,” Billy curses, slamming his hands into the steering wheel. He wasn’t planning on Steve’s parents being home. Figures they’d have perfect fucking timing.

He sighs and parks next to the curb, getting out and making his way around the back of the house, to Steve’s window, grabbing a discarded bottle cap off the ground on his way.

He stops under the window, glancing around the yard before throwing the bottle cap up, bouncing it off the window.

It feels like a lifetime, but it’s really only a few minutes before the window opens.

“He doesn’t want to talk to you Billy,” Nancy tells him, leaning her elbows on the windowsill and looking overall unimpressed.

Billy groans, tangles a hand in his hair and pulls. “Christ Wheeler. I know he doesn’t want to talk to me alright, I can take a fucking hint, but he could at least tell me that himself,” he calls back.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Steve says from behind him.

Billy startles at his sudden appearance, turning around fast and coming face to face with Steve. He looks angry, which Billy expected, but worse than that, he looks hurt.

“What are you doing here Hargrove?” he asks.

And that; _Hargrove_ not _Billy_ ; that hurts more than he had anticipated. Steve has his hands in his pockets and a glare on his face, but he doesn’t drop his eyes when Billy looks at him.

Billy draws a blank. All the shit that had led to him coming here in the first place, everything he told himself he was going to say, falls right out of his head as soon as he meets Steve’s eyes.

As angry as Steve is, Billy’s whole body relaxes at the sight of him, his shoulders sagging a bit in relief.

“I just-” he starts, unsure of where he was going to take that, and jesus christ, of course he chooses right now to run out of shit to say.

Steve scoffs, dropping his eyes to the ground. “Look, you said you could take a hint, so, just leave, okay,” he says.

Billy panics when Steve goes to turn away.

“No, wait. C’mon Stevie, I just wanna talk,” he says, words rushing out as he attempts to keep Steve from leaving.

Steve’s spine stiffens and Billy sees his shoulders tense. “Don’t,” he spits when Billy reaches out towards him.

“Just, don’t touch me, okay,” he adds, softer this time, a pained look on his face. “Look, you got what you wanted, just like everybody else. So, just leave me alone Billy, please,” he begs, refusing to meet Billy’s eyes as he turns and walks back into the house.

Billy’s heart shatters, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t in some sort of shock. He makes his way to his car slowly, dropping into the seat once he gets there and lighting a cigarette.

He isn’t sure what to do now, he can’t go home, he can only imagine the shit Max would give him for that.

He sighs as he finishes his cigarette, dropping it out the window. If this was before Steve he’d be spending the night in his car, but, now, there’s a place he can try.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's technically Saturday, but lets call it making up for the last times I didn't post.

Steve drops backwards onto his bed with a sigh and he can feel Nancy’s eyes on him.

“What was that about?” Nancy asks.

Steve sighs again. “It’s nothing Nance,” he replies, unwilling to explain.

“Sure, I believe that,” Nancy says, rolling her eyes. “I only want to help Steve, I can’t do that if you don’t talk to me,” she adds.

He takes a minute to think about it before deciding, he might as well, better she finds out from him.

“We kinda, hooked-up or, whatever,” Steve says, feigning nonchalance.

Nancy blanches, mouth opening and closing a few times before she actually manages to say anything. “Kinda? How do you, **kinda** , hook-up with _Billy Hargrove_?” she asks.

Steve gives a humorless laugh. “It’s a long story Nance,” he offers.

“And?” she replies. “I’ve got time. You can’t just say you _“kinda hooked-up”_ with Billy Hargrove and not give me details,” she adds.

He rolls his eyes. “What, you wanna know positions and everything?” he jokes.

Nancy raises her eyebrows, clearly interested.

“No. Nance, come on. We hooked-up, okay, just leave it at that,” he tells her.

“You have got to be kidding me Steve. You started this, at least tell me who made the first move,” she says.

“He did,” Steve tells her, because it’s easier than trying to get her to drop it, and it’s technically the truth.

She looks entirely too pleased with that information, and Steve is immediately suspicious.

“Why do you look so happy about that?” he questions, raising an eyebrow.

She just smirks. “No reason,” she says. And, yeah, Steve doesn’t believe that for a second.

Regardless, he decides it’s simpler to just, not push. “Whatever,” he sighs. “Just, don’t try sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong,” he warns.

She brings a hand to her chest, mock offended. “I would never,” she laughs, Steve just rolls his eyes, glad for the dropped subject.  
\------------------  
Billy drives all the way to the reservoir on autopilot. He knew he had to do this, **knows** it’s the only way to keep Steve safe, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

He’d come to terms a while ago with the fact that Neil would kill him one day, and that, try as he might, happiness may not be attainable. But no matter how many times he tells himself it isn’t worth the inevitable fight, it doesn’t keep his eyes from wandering.

He’d thought, after last time, maybe he would have learned something, but no. One look at the doe eyed pretty boy and Billy was done for.

Billy crushes his cigarette out on the bottom of his shoe and slides down off the hood of his Camaro with a scowl. It’ll do him no good to sit here moping. What’s done is done, and it’s for the best.

He drops into his seat, tightening his hands against the steering wheel, the lowering sun just catching on the key dangling from the rearview mirror as he heads back towards Steve’s house.

It’s dark by the time Billy makes it back to Steve’s house, and he makes it all the way to the front door before his confidence abandons him, leaving him to pace in front of the door.  
-  
“I thought you said you could take a hint,” Nancy says, swinging the front door open, halting Billy’s pacing.

Billy scoffs, smirks, and shrugs, shaking his head at the ground.

Nancy rolls her eyes. “Look Billy, just leave him alone okay. He has enough to worry about without you coming around here,” she tells him.

She’s really trying not to feel sorry for him; he was a jerk, she’s on Steve’s side here.

He nods again, not meeting her eyes, chewing at his bottom lip. He looks like he’s going to say something, but instead he reaches into his pocket, hesitating for a moment before holding a key out towards her.

Her mouth drops open slightly in shock, but she takes the key from his outstretched hand, watching as he takes off down the driveway before shutting the door and turning to Steve.

She holds up the key wordlessly and his face drops as he turns to head back to his room. Nancy follows him, worrying at the key in her hand the whole way, until she can shut the door behind them and safely speak.

“What am I missing here Steve? Because this-” she says, holding the key out again; “-this isn’t just a hook-up”.

Steve drops onto his bed, hands in his hair. “You should have let me talk to him Nance,” he says.

She shakes her head. “No Steve, the reason I wasn’t letting you talk to him is because he **hurt** you. Just like everybody else, that’s what you said. And you forgive people Steve, it’s what you do; so I wasn’t gonna let him just sweet talk his way back,” she comments. “But this-” she says, holding the key up again; “-says there is something you aren’t telling me”.

Steve sighs. “It’s not what you think okay; it never was. I mean, yeah, he hurt me, but there’s an explanation,” he tells her.

“Then spit it out Steve!” Nancy shouts, exasperated.

“I can’t Nance, it’s not my business to tell,” he replies.

And Nancy’s hackles lower slightly at that. Whatever this is, it seems serious.

She drops down on the bed next to him. “You can tell me Steve; I won’t say anything,” she tells him, her voice low.

Steve shakes his head. “I really can’t Nance,” he says.

She takes a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. “Then what difference does it make to me? As far as I know he’s an asshole with no redeeming qualities,” she states.

“Don’t say that Nance. You don’t know him like I do; he’s changed,” Steve says.

She shakes her head at him, standing up again. “Explain this then; if he’s changed _so much_. The Billy Hargrove that hurt you this time, is the same Billy Hargrove he’s always been. Sure, there’s no blood this time, no bruises to remember him by, but he hasn’t changed. He just charmed his way in this time to get what he wanted,” she spits. Livid suddenly that someone hurt Steve like this.

“That’s not what happened Nancy. Billy isn’t like that, he wouldn’t do that. This is nothing like last time,” Steve replies, sitting up now.

“Right, of course he wouldn’t; just like he wouldn’t do something like what he’s doing now? Because it’s so unbelievable that someone with a reputation like his would trick you into falling for him and then just ditch you!” Nancy yells, not caring that Steve’s parents are somewhere downstairs.

“It wasn’t like that Nancy! He wouldn’t do that to me!” Steve yells back.

“Prove it then! What’s the explanation? What gives him the excuse to treat you like this?!” she replies, still yelling.

“His dad, okay! Neil beats the shit out of him, and he found out about us and he threatened to kill me! Billy did this to protect me Nance. Are you happy now?” What started as a yell breaks off somewhere in the middle, leaving the rest to come out in more of a defeated sigh.

Nancy flounders. What is she supposed to say to that? How does anyone reply to that.

“Well; I feel like an asshole,” she says, dropping down next to him again.

Steve huffs a laugh. “It’s not your fault Nance; you didn’t know,” he tells her.

Nancy opens her mouth to reply, but Steve’s mom calls up the stairs before she can get anything out and Steve leaves to reassure her that nothing is wrong.

Nancy looks down at the key in her hand and bites at her lip. She has to do something about this. She has to fix it. She just isn’t sure how.  
-  
The driveway is empty when Billy pulls up to the Byers, the house dark, and Billy drops his head back against the seat. His fucking luck tonight is unbelievable. 

He jumps when there’s a knock at his window a few minutes later, and turns to find Will looking at him.

Billy rolls his window down and nods.

“You can come in ya know,” Will says.

Billy shrugs. “Looked empty,” he replies.

Will rolls his eyes, clearly amused. “You coulda knocked,” he says.

Billy makes a face and takes the keys out of the ignition before getting out of the car. “So, where is everybody?” he asks, spinning his keys around his finger.

Will laughs at him and starts towards the house. “Jonathatn went to hang out with Nancy,” he says, making a face when Billy takes his time walking into the house, and locking the door behind them.

“And your mom?” Billy asks, unable to shake the awkwardness. Even around one of the kids he likes, it’s still weird.

“She went out with Hopper,” Will tells him, turning a few of the lights on in the living room.

Billy relaxes a bit, dropping into the recliner. “You here alone?” he asks, surprised.

“I’m here too,” Jane says from behind him, making him jump again.

“Christ kid, walk a little louder,” Billy tells her. “So, you two causin’ trouble?” he asks after a minute, trying to avoid an awkward silence.

Jane looks unimpressed, to say the least, and Will won’t meet his eyes.

“I can go if I’m breaking up your slumber party, I was just-”

“What happened to your face Billy?” Will asks, before Billy can finish his sentence.

Billy drops his eyes. He’d been so focused on everything with Steve, he’d forgotten his run in with Neil.

“A bad man,” Jane spits, sounding so angry that Billy looks up at her as she drops onto the couch. Her face is scrunched up and she’s glaring straight ahead.

_“If looks could kill,”_ Billy can’t help but think.

“It’s fine, I just gotta clean it up a bit,” he says, standing to head for the bathroom.

“First aid kit is under the sink,” Will tells him, joining Jane on the couch.

Once he gets cleaned up, it’s not actually as bad as he thought. A few cuts and bruises, but it had mostly been blood.

“There’s pizza in the oven,” Will calls as Billy exits the bathroom, not even looking away from whatever they’re watching.

Billy shrugs, he could eat. He helps himself to some pizza and a coke from the fridge, and by the time he joins them in the living room whatever they had been watching is over and they’re kneeling by the coffee table, crowded around that same fucking notebook he’d snatched from Max forever ago.

He chuckles a bit as he sits down, but neither of them look up.

“What are you two nerds doing?” Billy asks once he’s done with his pizza, finishing the last of his coke.

“We’re finishing up the campaign for tomorrow. Everybody is gonna come over and play while my mom’s at work,” Will says, not looking up from the notebook.

“Everybody?” Billy asks. Part of him wondering why Max hadn’t told him, though he’s mostly focused on the “everybody” part.

Everybody means Dustin, which usually means Steve.

“They’re only home for tonight. They do this sometimes, I think it makes them feel better about leaving him alone all the time,” Will says, like he knows what Billy is thinking.

When Billy looks up they’re both looking at him. He can tell Will is trying not to smile, but Jane has her chin propped in her hand, a wide smile on her face.

“I’m gonna go out for a smoke,” Billy says, standing and walking towards the door, hearing the giggles as he pulls the door shut behind himself.

“Fuckin’ kids, honestly,” Billy mutters, digging through his pockets hoping for a cigarette, only slightly surprised when he actually finds one. He leans against the railing of the porch and lights up, closing his eyes on the first deep inhale.

He tries not to think about Steve, but that doesn’t last. Billy sees him every time he closes his eyes, his fucking jacket smells like him. It’s almost enough to drive Billy crazy.

“Billy?”

His head snaps up and he finds Jonathan standing just off the porch looking at him quizzically.

“Why are you on my porch at 11:30?” Jonathan asks, raising an eyebrow.

Billy isn’t too sure what to say here. He and Jonathan haven’t really had many chances to get to know each other, so to say this is awkward would be an understatement.

Billy shrugs, may as well tell the truth at this point. “Well, your girlfriend wouldn’t let me see Steve, and I sure as fuck wasn’t going home, so I didn’t really have anywhere else to go,” he says.

Jonathan looks briefly uncomfortable and Billy’s shoulders go tense.

“I can go, it’s not a problem,” Billy says, going to do just that.

“It’s fine. I mean, you can leave if you want, but I was just wondering why you’re on the porch. Did Will not let you in?” Jonathan replies, stopping Billy in his tracks.

“No, uh, he let me in, I just came out here for a smoke,” Billy tells him, following him when he goes in the house.

The living room is empty and Jonathan heads straight to the kitchen pulling the fridge open and handing Billy a beer before heading down the hall leaving Billy standing awkwardly in the kitchen. He doesn’t hesitate in drinking the beer, draining half of it in one go.

“They’re asleep,” Jonathan says, dropping a blanket and pillow on the couch and joining Billy in the kitchen.

Billy nods, trying to ignore the silence creeping in on them, finishing his beer.

Jonathan drops down at the table with a beer of his own, sliding another one across the table for Billy.

Billy joins him at the table, accepting the beer.

They drink in silence and Billy can’t help but think Jonathan knows more than he’s saying, the air getting less tense around them. Neither of them say anything, even after they’ve finished their drinks, and it’s Jonathan that finally speaks up, standing from the table and taking the bottles to the sink.

“You can stay here anytime. Max too, if you ever need to,” he says.

Billy nods, eyes on the floor. “Thanks,” he mumbles.

Jonathan just nods before heading back down the hall, leaving Billy to get comfortable.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it folks, the final chapter. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint.

Nancy is the first person to show up the next day, shooting a quick look in Billy’s direction before practically dragging Jonathan out the front door.

“What is he doing here?” she asks, practically demanding.

Jonathan shrugs; “He showed up last night, said he had no where else to go”.

Nancy’s face drops and she crosses her arms, starting to pace.

Jonathan stands there for a minute watching her pace and mutter to herself before he decides to speak up. “I think you should let him talk to Steve,” he says, surprised when, instead of an argument he gets a sigh.

“I was thinking the same thing. But I’m gonna need help to make it happen,” she replies, mostly talking to herself.

Nancy is still plotting when Steve shows up later, Max and Dustin bickering as they walk in.

Steve and Billy lock eyes for a moment and the air goes tense, enough that even the kids notice, the room going silent enough that the door shutting behind Billy is like a gunshot. Nancy sees Steve flinch and is getting ready to approach him when Max beats her to it.

Their conversation is hushed, but Nancy distinctly hears; _“It’s my fault,”_ before Steve steps out onto the porch for a smoke.

Max rolls her eyes as she walks towards Nancy. “Boys are dumb,” she says.

Nancy laughs. “Yeah. These two especially,” she replies. “So, any ideas on how to clean up their mess?” she asks.

Max thinks about it for a second before smirking. “Yeah actually,” she replies. “Don’t worry. I got this,” she adds, before turning to grab Dustin in a heated conversation. He seems to finally give in as Max turns back to Nancy. 

She smiles wide and Nancy can’t help but return it, sure that Max has it covered. She’s a force to be reckoned with on a good day, Steve and Billy don’t stand a chance.

“What are we doing out here Max?” Billy asks, for probably the eighth time since Max had dragged him out of the house.

Not that he can really complain too much; sure, Steve had been nowhere in sight when Billy had come back from the store, but Nancy kept looking at him, like she pitied him.

It got annoying real quick.

Max groans, rolling her eyes. “You’ll find out in a second, okay. God you’re annoying,” she mutters.

Billy pulls a face while she isn’t looking, making sure it’s gone before she turns to face him again.

“Give me your keys,” she says, stopping in front of him, holding her hand out.

Billy scoffs. “Not gonna happen. Do you think I forgot what happened last time you had my keys?” he asks.

She rolls her eyes again. “I’m not gonna go anywhere this time.Cross my heart,” she says, doing just that.

Billy still isn’t convinced.

“Look Billy, this is important okay. Just give me your keys, your precious car will be right where you left it when this is done,” she says.

Billy runs his tongue over his teeth, tosses his keys around in his hands for a minute before deciding, what the hell, and dropping them in her hand.

“I swear to god Max, if it moves so much as an inch,” he starts, but she ignores him and keeps walking.

After another bout of walking Billy is ready to turn around and leave, and he opens his mouth to say as much, stopping completely when he catches sight of Steve.

He’s in a clearing a bit ahead of them with Dustin. Neither of them notice Max or Billy, too busy yelling at each other.

“Is there a reason you dragged me out here? I wasn’t really planning on staying. I was busy,” Steve says.

“Yeah, busy moping,” Dustin replies, sounding bored.

Steve crosses his arms over his chest. “I was not moping Dustin,” he insists.

Dustin rolls his eyes. “Look Steve, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, I’m just saying, sitting in the dark in your underwear eating ice cream out of the carton, is definitely considered moping,” he says.

“Piss off. I’m going home, give me my keys,” Steve starts, and that’s when he sees Billy.

He looks from Billy, to Max, to Dustin, before dropping his eyes to the ground.

Max is the first one to speak. “Look assholes, I know you probably think feelings are bullshit, but the fact of the matter is, you’re stuck out here. Neither of you are getting your keys back until this is settled,” she informs them.

Billy couldn’t stop his smirk if he tried.

“Now, we’ll be at the house. Steve knows the way back,” she adds, before her and Dustin head back the way they came.

A tense silence settles between them and Billy kicks at the ground just for something to do.

“I should have known they were up to something. Dustin never wants to be outside when they’re supposed to be playing D&D,” Steve says quietly.

Billy huffs a laugh. “If it makes you feel any better, I fell for it too,” he says with shrug.

They’re quiet again and Billy rubs a hand over the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry,” they say at the same time. Their eyes meet briefly before Steve looks away again.

Steve clears his throat, still looking at the ground. “I’m sorry about what I said. I get why you had to-” he stops, his hands fidgeting. He blinks a few times before continuing. “The point is, I get it, so we’re cool”.

“Bullshit,” Billy spits, just to get Steve to meet his eyes.

It works, Steve looks up from the ground to meet Billy’s eyes, shocked.

“W-what?” he questions.

Billy shoves his fists into his pockets. “I said bullshit. What I did, what I **said** , _wasn’t_ okay, we aren’t “cool”,” he spits. “I knew you’d understand, I could have talked to you; instead I treated you like shit. There isn’t an excuse for that,” he adds.

Steve is blinking tears out of his eyes. “Billy, what Neil said, you had every reason to believe him. I don’t blame you for trying to protect me, and yourself,” he says softly.

“Except I didn’t only do it to protect you,” Billy admits. “Neil makes plenty of threats, but he’s always either too drunk or too stupid to act on any of them. It just gave me the excuse I was looking for to duck out before I-” he stops, only willing to admit so much. “The point is, I did what I did because I was afraid; not of what Neil would do, I was afraid of what would happen-” he bites down on the inside of his cheek until he tastes blood, chokes down the words he isn’t ready to say. “Feelings are bullshit, okay, and I let mine get to me in the wrong way, and I hurt you. I’m sorry,” he says finally, and now he’s the one avoiding Steve’s eyes. Unwilling to see the realization, or the disappointment.

Billy feels like the silence is suffocating him and he briefly considers walking somewhere, literally anywhere but here, because he isn’t sure he can handle Steve walking away from this, from him.

It seems like an eternity before Steve speaks up.

“Feelings are bullshit,” he says, startling a laugh out of Billy.

“I mean it. I was all ready to forgive you and walk away like nothing happened, just forget about all of it; and now-” Steve stops and Billy glances up towards him.

“Now?” Billy questions, not letting himself get his hopes up.

Steve can only stop his smile for so long. “You’re an asshole Hargrove,” he says.

Billy returns the smile with a shrug. “Yeah, I guess I am,” he agrees.

Steve reaches into his pocket for something, offering it to Billy when he finds it.

Billy looks up from the key in Steve’s hand to meet his eyes, ignoring the way his vision goes cloudy as he smirks. “And here I thought you were gonna make me sneak in your window from now on,” he comments.

Steve goes red and takes a few steps back, still smiling. “You know what, I changed my mind, forget everything I just said-” he starts, breaking off into a laugh when Billy crowds in closer, boxing Steve in against a tree.

Steve is smiling as Billy leans in closer, a giddy feeling taking over as he leans into a kiss.

Billy smirks again when he breaks the kiss and Steve raises an eyebrow, surprising Billy by tucking the key into his front pocket.

“Don’t let this deter you from sneaking in my window,” he says, his voice low, a teasing smirk on his face.

Billy kisses him again because he can; because he’s stupidly happy and Steve is here, again, _still_ , despite all of Billy’s bullshit, Steve is still choosing him.

When they finally make it back to the house it’s almost like they never left. The kids are all gathered around the dining table yelling about their game while Nancy and Jonathan are standing by the stove, their playful bickering enough to make Billy slightly nauseous. If it wasn’t for the quick look Max shoots at them, followed immediately by a small smile, you wouldn’t even know they’d noticed Steve and Billy’s reappearance at all.

The kids yelling eventually picks up enough that Nancy and Jonathan relocate to the living room, joining Steve and Billy, but no one says anything.

Well, no one says anything until Billy gets up to go out for a smoke, Nancy quickly following him. 

Steve can just see them through the window. He sees Billy give Nancy a curious look, when he follows that with a glance in Steve’s direction, shooting him a smirk and a wink when he sees Steve looking, Steve can’t help but worry.

He doesn’t know what Billy says, but when Nancy comes back in the house her whole face is red and Billy is laughing to himself on the porch.

Steve figures it’s better he doesn’t ask.

Billy doesn’t even put the Camaro in park when he drops Max at home later, simply stops at the curb, ignores the knowing look on Max’s face, and takes off towards Steve’s house as soon as she’s safely away from the car.

Once he gets to Steve's he walks around to the back, completely bypassing the easy ways in and making his way, carefully, up to Steve’s window. 

He’s barely hauled himself through the window when Steve enters the room.

“That was harder than it looked pretty boy,” Billy says, causing Steve to jump a bit in surprise. “Good thing you’re worth it,” he adds with a smirk as Steve crosses the room and pulls him into a kiss.

"Hey, what did you say to Nancy earlier?" Steve asks later, as Billy is getting dressed to leave.

It takes him a minute, but once he realizes what Steve is talking about he laughs.

"What? What is so funny? What did you say to her?" Steve asks again.

Billy shakes his head, smiling. "She said you told her I made the first move," he says, looking over at Steve, his smile dropping to a smirk.

"Well, yeah. You did, technically. I don't see what that has to do with my question," Steve replies, confused.

Billy is still smirking as he leans down, hands resting on the mattress on either side of Steve's shoulders, to steal a kiss.

Steve moves his arms over Billy's shoulders, let's himself get lost in the kiss for a bit before Billy eventually pulls away. "Stop trying to distract me and tell me what you said to her," Steve says.

Billy smirks again. "I told her that I caught you peeping in my window, and decided to put on a little show for you," he says, before righting himself and grabbing his keys off the nightstand.

It takes him a second, and Billy is already at the door when Steve gets it. "Billy! You did not!" Steve shouts, tossing a pillow at Billy's retreating form when he just laughs in response.

Billy goes home that night because he has to. Because if he doesn’t Neil will know something is up, and he feels they key burning a hole in his pocket the whole way there.

He pulls up to the curb, unable to keep the smirk off his face when he sees Neil’s car, beat to shit, still in the driveway. He’s gonna have to figure out a way to, show his appreciation, for that one.

Billy makes his way inside with his breath held, and finds Neil passed out in front of the TV, beer cans littering the space around him. 

He takes the stairs two at a time on the way to his room, shutting the door behind him when he gets there and dropping back onto his bed.

He’s fighting to keep the grin off his face, lighting a cigarette in hopes that it’ll help. He takes a deep breath, filling his lungs with smoke, closes his eyes and imagines Steve on the beach in California. He chokes on the exhale, because now he knows he’s fucked, and he’s still smiling. Feels like he might not ever stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, that's a wrap. We sincerely hope you've enjoyed this fic, and thank you all so very much for reading/kudos/commenting. It's lovely to get to speak with you all, and we've enjoyed hearing your thoughts. Thank you all, again, and have a lovely morning/afternoon/evening!!

**Author's Note:**

> I suck at summaries, but I'm marginally better at writing actual fics. This has been a labor of love, and we're very excited to finally share it. It has been gone over with a fine toothed comb by no less than, two authors, one beta reader(with the patience of a saint), and an amazing editor whose strength we tested daily. 
> 
> There is 20 chapters, it will update once a week until the end. 
> 
> Last but not least; Thank you! For clicking on this fic and giving it a look. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it!


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